Stalwart Affinity
by Red Okra
Summary: Without Ultear and Jellal, Meredy is left to fulfill their guild's purposes on her own. However, reality sinks in and she finds herself losing the will to live, until she becomes connected with a certain silver-haired ice mage.
1. Chapter 1

They had been fighting for a few moments, then and there. Various enemies from the dark guild dropped nearly dead on the floor, defeated through combined power of two cloaked figures.

Both of them, especially the cloaked figure with pink hair, Meredy, was prepared for it; this was the purpose of their guild, Crime Sorciere, after all.

However, no amount of preparation could allow her to handle the situation she was currently facing.

While they managed to overthrow all the members of the dark guild they faced, this one obstacle, which both of them did not expect, still remained.

As she stood from the ground, she faced with widened eyes the scenery before her: Jellal was within large barrier, created seemingly by the gigantic, black gate behind him.

Jellal was trapped.

Abruptly, she cried, "Maguilty Rays!" causing several yellow blades to fly towards the barrier. White smoke formed from the spots struck by the rays, but not a scratch was produced from the impact.

"Maguilty Sodom!" Meredy casted, which then caused short, teal blades to be produced from within her, which then hit the barrier once more. However, the efforts were still futile.

Meredy was panicking. She continued her attempts to break it, from casting more of her rays to even throwing a rock at it. Still, none were effective. The barrier was really sturdy.

She even attempted approaching the fallen enemies, desperate to find a clue to deactivate the barrier. Badly beaten, they found it hard to utter clear words; however, the bottom line was: none of them knew.

She approached the barrier, towards her blue-haired guild mate's spot. She wasn't prepared for this, but she needed to get him out of there.

Jellal on the other hand found the scene ironic. If he was in no serious situation, he would have laughed. He was once again isolated, trapped within a cell, only it wasn't the steel walls embedded with lacrima. Seeing his guild mate, he approached Meredy as well.

"Jellal, don't worry! I'll find something!" she said, faking an optimistic tone. She displayed a toothy grin as well, but the corners of her lips were trembling. When they broke Jellal out of prison, it was mostly Ultear's doing, but now that she was gone…

"Meredy, listen," Jellal finally spoke, facing the pink-haired girl, "get out of here quickly." He lifted his hand forward until it was stopped by the solid, translucent screen, effectively separating the two of them. He scoured his hand through the barrier and sensed it; no simple magic would allow him to break through it. He looked at the gate looming meters behind him. The majestic gate was opened; in it appeared a dimension towards the unknown, which appeared to be black nothingness. He sensed it would only take a few minutes before the magic on the gate would start taking effect. And he knew it wasn't good.

"No, Jellal! I'm not leaving without you!" she screamed back, tears forming around the corner of her eyes. She clenched her fists tightly, fingers digging onto her palms, and started striking them on the barrier. "W-we'll find something! I'm s-sure there's some way to break this…"

He closed his eyes, shaking his head. "Meredy, no. Run away."

Meredy thought he was being ridiculous. She quickly turned her head away from him and ceased hitting the barrier. "No, Jellal! You're the only one I have now!" All of the sudden, a pink glow emitted from her wrist, and then, a similarly hued projectile from above hit Jellal's own. Tears started streaming down her face. "If this is what it takes, no matter what happens to you, I want it to happen to me as well!"

Looking at the pink seal on his hand, Jellal clicked his tongue. It was Sensory Link. "Meredy, you…"

"Please, Jellal… I don't want… to be alone again…" she whispered, wiping her face with her sealed hand.

Suddenly, Jellal's eyes widened and shifted his eyes from his sealed wrist to the barrier above. _"Wait, how could it pass through-? Could it be?" _He glanced at the person in front of him, who still wasn't showing any intention of going away. He then felt a strong force slowly absorbing him from behind; at the same time, he could feel it absorbing his magical power. He turned his head back to the gate. _"Shit, it's starting... There's no time left…"_

Meredy sensed it too, as she felt an unknown force pulling herself and her magical power. Unlike Jellal, however, she was behind the barrier and would be able to escape easily.

"Meredy," Jellal said, as he lifted his hand once more, touching the surface of the barrier, "remember what Ultear said?"

Upon the mention of that name, Meredy enlarged her tear-filled eyes towards him.

"'Carry on my spirit,"' he said, recalling the final words of the letter addressed to them. He noticed the twitch on her shoulders upon saying them.

"'And continue to fight,'" she finished. She momentarily recalled the old lady that sent them the letter; the memory left her quietly sobbing once more.

He nodded, as a thin smile formed on his lips. Just then, the surge of the force became stronger; Jellal took one step back and shifted his weight.

Snapping back from the flashback of her memories, Meredy felt alarmed with his action. Again, she hit the barrier with her palms. "But Jellal, what about you..?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll…find something. But I can't risk you getting hurt, so you should go." He took another step backwards. "Go to Fairy Tail. Tell them what we discovered here. They'll be able to help in getting to the root of this, I know it."

Tears began dwelling once more on her eyes. "But…"

"Release Sensory Link, and go," he said, attempting to have a stern tone. However, tears also began flowing from his face due to their connected emotions.

He cursed inwardly. He felt her fear, the possibility of being alone. He knew Meredy's past; he knew the tragedy that befell on her before Ultear took her in. She did not want to be alone, which is why she reacted that way when Ultear said her goodbyes. Her fear was overpowering his emotions, which was filled with doubt at that moment. He cursed again; he had to fight her emotions.

He had to be stronger.

He thought of Erza.

Erza, who didn't give up on him despite all the things that he had done.

Erza, who had served as his inspiration to stand up and fight once more.

Erza, his light.

He roughly wiped his tears and faced her again. The force became stronger twofold, their capes now wildly flapping towards the direction of the gate. "I SAID, GO, NOW!"

Upon hearing the shift in Jellal's voice, Meredy snapped back to her senses and noticed the serious expression on his face. Because of Sensory Link, she felt it too; there resided a tinge of newly-found strong will. She wiped her tears as well.

He closed his eyes, clenching his fists. "Continue to fight, Meredy. Do it for me, for Ultear," he paused, and then opening his eyes, "for Crime Sorciere."

She looked at him and saw the unwavering glint in his brown eyes. Finally, she nodded and started running away. For one last time, she turned her head back. Seeing he was still standing with strong will, she finally released her spell, causing the seals from their wrists to disappear. She also felt it; she sensed his doubts, but she also felt his determination, growing stronger by the moment. She faced forward and forced herself to run faster, farther away from the gate. "Be safe, Jellal…"

Upon grasping that her Sensory Link has dispersed, he watched her retreating form. Sighing in relief, he smiled faintly. While he did find the determination to fight his current obstacle, he was unsure of the outcomes. "Farewell, Meredy, and forgive me, because we may not see each other again…"

Jellal faced the gate; the force was getting more resilient by the second. He then looked back at the spot where Meredy was fleeing, making sure that she was already beyond the reach of the spell he was about to cast. As he felt the force absorbing more of his power, he realized that it could not wait any longer. He closed his eyes, and briefly, an image of a smiling scarlet-haired woman flashed on his mind. "Erza, thank you, and I'm sorry too…and farewell."

Immediately, he bowed down and pointed his hands downwards. Slowly, he began to motion his right arm until it pointed upwards, which then caused the formation of dark, circling clouds above the area. At the same time, the force pulling him became intensely stronger, which was already starting to pull Jellal from his spot. Not wasting his time and intending to strike the gate immediately from above, he casted: "True Heavenly Body Magic: Sema!"

Then, a large, dark explosion erupted from the area. Meredy, who was still running away, felt an immense wave of gust behind her which caused her to trip and be pushed roughly towards the ground. Fatigue and emotional stress taking over her, she was unable to lift herself and remained prone, her eyelids becoming heavier. Trembling, she weakly clutched the dirt on her palms. "Jellal… Ultear…" And she lost consciousness.

As the heavy smoke cleared from the spot of the explosion, the dark gate was no longer found, and so was Jellal.

* * *

**A/N:** _Hi there! This idea just came to my mind one night, and I know Lyon/Meredy isn't a very popular pairing. But I just had to get this off my head, haha. I'll be doing introductory chapters first, but they'll be able to meet around the third chapter. This story takes place after the **Grand Magic Games arc**, by the way._

_Reviews are highly appreciated! :3_


	2. Chapter 2

A train from Oshibana station was on its way towards Clover town. Among the many passengers that day was a certain silver-haired ice mage, who was watching the scenery of mountains from the train's window.

Three hours had passed since Lyon accepted the mission. It was a job requesting for a certain plant found in Hibiscus forest. It was a special type of flower which only grows into a small bud in normal temperatures, but would bloom under extremely low temperatures. It was a pretty simple mission and could be accomplished using his magic, so he decided to go alone. The only downside was it was several towns and villages away from Lamia Scale's guild house. The village and forest of Hibiscus wasn't also easily accessible so he needed to walk from the nearest train station. It was bothersome for Lyon, but he just kept in mind that he'd be awarded with decent amount of jewels. "_Three times the pay of the usual short-term jobs I take, it isn't pretty bad_," he thought.

As the train passed over a bridge, going over a river, Lyon knew that he was near his destination. He started fixing his belongings and prepared to go off the train.

Stepping away from the station, he observed his surroundings. Clover town was a venue known as a meeting place for masters of legal guilds. He momentarily recalled Jura telling him about a time when a troublesome incident regarding Fairy Tail and that meeting house happened a long time ago. But when did Fairy Tail _not_ cause trouble? Lyon chuckled to himself.

Situated in a mountainous area, a cool breeze was felt every now and then at the place, pleasing Lyon. He had always preferred cool places due to the nature of his magic.

He then figured that he should start walking towards the forest near the town so that he'd finish the mission immediately, but decided to buy a snack first along the way. He settled with a half pack of bread loaves.

While nibbling bread, he took out his map and started navigating his way towards the forest. Apparently, he had to go through Clover forest, pass through a valley, walk through another forest and arrive at Hibiscus village. The village wasn't even his destination, the forest beside it was. Lyon sighed, but resumed walking anyway.

Almost two hours had passed, and apparently he was still at the Clover forest. He looked at his magical compass and it didn't appear to be malfunctioning. "This forest is so goddamn large," he complained. Scratching his head, he drank from his water bottle and continued walking. Soon, he reached a vast valley.

"Finally, at least I'm here. Just another forest and I'll reach the village," he spoke to himself. It had proven to be a pretty boring mission for Lyon too; there wasn't much to see in the huge forest and there was this plain old valley. He noted that it was also getting dark, so he had to keep moving to at least reach Hibiscus village.

He screened the valley, and apparently there were three forests bordering it. Standing at the middle of the valley, he noted that behind him was Clover forest; to his east was the river; west was an unknown forest. Going north was moving closer to his destination.

"North it is," he stated. He then shook his head and laughed. Here he was, talking to himself. He hated to admit it, but he did miss the company of his teammates Toby, Sherry, and Yuka.

He started heading north when he heard a loud explosion from the west. Feeling also a gust of wind towards the source, he immediately turned his head west and his eyes widened upon seeing a massive smoke cloud from the sky. He found himself turning towards the source, curious and alarmed at the same time.

"Ice-Make: Wings!" he casted, growing ice wings from his back. "_Why haven't I thought about using this earlier…" _he told himself, but then he thought he'd still be tired either way.

Flying up the sky from the valley, he decided to survey the situation from above. He gasped at what he saw. While it was quite hard to see what actually happened due to the setting of the sun, in addition to the smoke which was still clearing, Lyon was definitely sure that a huge crater formed on that area. He descended back to the valley and broke off his ice spell.

"Shit… Whatever that was, I'm sure that isn't supposed to be there," he said, clearly bothered with what he witnessed. He decided against his better judgement and ran west, momentarily forgetting about his mission. He wouldn't be able to complete the mission within the day anyway, he thought, since the train didn't operate at midnight. It would be hard to search for a plant in the dark too.

He decided against using his ice wings to quickly go through the source, as he didn't know whatever magical force or creature lay at the crater. He wasn't even supposed to be there. He chose to go through the woods stealthily, carefully yet quickly moving through as possible.

On his way, he felt someone chattering and coming closer, so hid himself behind a tree. He attempted to minimize his magical presence too.

"Good thing we escaped, I knew those hooded bastards were too strong, anyway," squeaked a man with a high-pitched voice.

"Yeah, I know. Good thing we weren't caught in that explosion too. We'd be definitely dead meat," replied another one, who had a much lower tone.

"Have you seen Hotclaw and the others, though? I think I saw them fleeing too."

"I'm not sure, but I just want to go home now…"

And their voices faded. Whatever that was, Lyon deduced that the explosion had something to do with those 'hooded bastards.'

Seeing that it was highly probable that he wasn't alone, he moved more quietly through the woods. He glanced at his compass, continuing to move forward towards west.

He hoped that this situation didn't have anything to do with dark guilds, but he highly suspected that it did. He could only hope.


	3. Chapter 3

Right in the middle of the forest, a cloaked figure remained lying on the ground. The figure lightly twitched; she could smell the soil beside her face, and she could feel some small rocks grazing her cheeks. Gently, she opened her heavy eyes, and tried to raise her head, causing the hood to expose her pink hair.

"_Did I pass out?"_ she asked herself. She felt her head throbbing, but Jellal's words started echoing in her mind. She struggled to stand, but her body felt heavy. It appeared that the force absorbing the magical power drained her more than she had thought; even the second origin of her magical energy felt sapped. She could only bring her legs to a kneeling position, with her hands supporting her weight to keep herself from falling forward.

All of the sudden, she heard voices, as well as the ruffling of bushes. Meredy froze. _"Oh no, this isn't good…" _She sensed them coming closer, and she lifted one hand to cover her head with her hood. She maintained her head in a lowered position, with an intention of concealing her face.

Then, the footsteps suddenly stopped. For a while, all she perceived were the breeze of the night and the shuffling of the trees. Nevertheless, as if their main intention was to break the silence of the evening, she heard a horde of boisterous laughter. Meredy took a deep breath, bracing herself.

"Hooooh? What do we have here?" one voice said. Meredy could hear him coming closer. She subconsciously gripped the dirt on her palms tighter.

"Hey, man, whatcha think ya doin'? Don't ya see the cloak? It's one of 'them!'" another one mentioned, whose voice arose from a higher source. She deduced that he must've been on the trees.

"Why are you chickening out, Cherron? He can hardly stand! It's our chance to avenge the guild!" the third voice argued. He seemed to be behind the first person who spoke. Sweat started dripping on Meredy's forehead.

"I thought ya want nothin' to do with Portico Dusk anymore, Bade? Isn't that why we ran away?" the man named Cherron spat back.

"Don't be an idiot, Cherron! It's our opportunity! If we kill this bastard, boss might promote us!" Bade replied, the tone of annoyance apparent on his voice.

Then, the boots of the man in front of her were within her field of vision. "Oy, why aren't you saying anything? Not so powerful now, huh? The 'gate' must've hit you hard," said the first man, who then chuckled darkly. Upon the mention of the gate, Meredy opened her mouth in surprise.

"You know about the—ack!" was all Meredy could say as she felt a muscular arm yank her by the neck and easily lifted her from the ground. She brought her hands to the arm, trying to break free.

"Hoooh, so you're a woman after all?" The man gave her a lecherous stare.

Cherron, a thin, blond man, then jumped off the tree, taking a closer look. "Hey, an' she looks pretty hot too!"

"Changed your mind now, Cherron?" Bade, who was wearing a hat and had dark skin, sniggered. He walked beside the man suffocating her. "I don't really care, as long as we get to kill her in the end. What should we do, Hotclaw?"

Hotclaw, who didn't lessen his grip around her neck, answered, "Oh, we'll have some fun with her, first."

"L-let…g-go…" Meredy sputtered. She tried to resist, but her strength hasn't fully recovered. But she didn't have a choice, she could at least try. With all that's left, she casted, "S…S-sensory Link!" which then caused two similarly pattern seals appear on her and Hotclaw's wrist.

Stunned that she still had the capacity to cast a spell, Hotclaw tried to further constrict his grasp, but suddenly found himself out of breath as well, causing him to drop her on the surface. While catching her breath as well, Meredy took it as the opportunity to distance herself from him but was intercepted by a person behind her.

"Where do ya think ya goin', babe?" Cherron whispered to her ear. Meredy winced. He then grabbed both her arms to her back, and she found her upper limbs being bound by vines.

"Wh-what?" Meredy stuttered, looking at the bundles of vines which started to go around her waist as well.

"Vine magic's mah specialty. The best there is in Portico Dusk." He then chortled and took it as the opportunity to slide his hands under her cape and held her bare shoulders. He sensually rubbed them and snorted even more.

"Y-you're disgusting!" Meredy spat, her blood running cold. She had to do something, but she couldn't recklessly use her remaining magic power.

"And my, my, ya too have some ample brea—" but before he could touch her further, they were startled by a loud outburst.

"'THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO ME? WHY CAN'T I MOVE MY ARMS? AND WHO THE HELL IS TOUCHING ME?" In front of them, Hotclaw was going mad. Bade and Cherron were dumbfounded, but Meredy could only chuckle.

"Whatever you do to me happens also to him," Meredy stated a matter-of-factly. Smirking at the momentary looks of disgust on the men's faces, she used it as the opportunity to transfer her own Sensory Link to Cherron—connecting him and Hotclaw—and kicked him hard on the groin. Both men wailed in pain and immediately dropped to the ground. Her trunk and upper limbs still tied by vines, she attempted to run from the area once more but realized there was one more enemy, who blocked her way again.

"I don't care whether you're a woman or not, but you're not going away!" Bade loudly exclaimed.

Meredy then took leap back, and swivelled her body, which triggered her body to glow. "Maguilty Beam!"

Subsequently, a several light pink lasers spurted out of her trunk, hitting Bade to the ground and cutting off the vines around her. Being able to move much more freely, Meredy sprinted from the scene but suddenly found herself frozen in the middle of her stance. Meredy furrowed her brows. "What now…?"

"Body Restriction magic," Bade hooted darkly, standing up and wiping the blood from his face. Picking up his fallen hat, he staggered his way closer to her, "With your body paralyzed, you won't be getting anywhere... Gahahahaha!"

Meredy gulped. The beams took a large amount of her remaining magic power. Attempting to conserve the miniscule power left, she reluctantly released the Sensory Link between Hotclaw and Cherron. A few seconds later, Bade was already in front of her.

"As I've mentioned earlier, I have no interest in doing anything but to kill you," he said straightforwardly, "but there's no fun in killing you right away. Guess I have to torture you until Hotclaw's okay."

Meredy bit her lip as she saw a blade right at her face. "W-w-w…" She silently cursed. Her mouth was paralyzed too.

Bade heard her attempts. "You wanna speak eh? Nah," He then drew the knife closer to her cheek, the tip of it about a hair away from her face. "Although, it wouldn't be fun if no noise comes out of you." With a snap of a finger, Meredy felt the tone of her facial muscles decreasing.

Eyeing the blade close to her, Meredy scowled. "You…"

Seeing the expression in her face, Bade laughed. "What's with that look on your face? You should even thank me." Bringing down his knife, he began circling around her unmoving form. "Tell you what. Let's talk for a while. I think it's getting boring around here."

She made no attempts to answer, seeing no point to it at all. However, Bade wasn't pleased, and lifted the silver blade towards her face again, but this time, grazing her cheek. A drop of blood came out, making Meredy to whimper.

"Why are you so quiet all of the sudden? You wanted to speak right? So do it now!"

Meredy's eye twitched, feeling the sting of pain. "T-then… Why don't you tell me about the Dark Gate?"

"The Dark Gate?" Bade raised an eyebrow, "Ahahaha! So that's what would get you to speak. I do know something, but I don't see why I should tell you." Seeing her scowl again, Bade smirked. "You poor little girl. Alright, but only when you say, 'please,'" he added with malice in his voice. He raised his blade again.

Her ego didn't want to, but she was getting desperate, "Please…"

"See? Now that's a good girl," Bade said, mockingly patting her head. "All I know is that it's Portico Dusk's secret weapon, and I've heard that it was a magic borrowed from another dark guild. That's it."

Meredy's eyes widened. "_Another dark guild? Who could it be?_" she pondered. "B-but wait, do you know about—"

"And now you're talking too much. I'm getting annoyed." With a snap of his finger, she felt her facial muscles stiffen again. Meredy cringed inwardly. This man was really cruel.

A voice from beneath the trees alarmed them. "Oy, Bade! What are ya doing, getting friendly with that bitch? Thought ya weren't interested." Bade turned around and saw Cherron followed by Hotclaw, who both appeared to be in pain.

"That's what I get from successfully catching her, you ungrateful scums?" Bade howled back.

"Hoooh, you used body restriction? Good, good, now she wouldn't get away…" Hotclaw lewdly said, and slowly grabbed her cape.

Meredy trembled again, mixed with disgust and fear this time. She closed her eyes; she was out of ideas. She could try connecting the four of them through a Spread Sensory Link, thereby paralyzing all of them and forcing Bade to release his spell which may give her an opening to flee, but she doubted that she had enough energy to sustain the link between all of them. Meredy's line of thought was disrupted when she felt something burning near her. Her cape was on fire!

"This is getting in the way, kehehe!" Hotclaw said, burning the end of her cape. Meredy could hear dark giggles from his companions. "Don't worry, I'll just burn your clothes. That's what you get for being a bad, baaaaad, little bitch."

"Meanwhile, I'll be pullin' this off!" Cherron said, staring lasciviously at her chest. Meredy tried resisting, but her entire body was still paralyzed. She squinted her eyes, vision being blurred due to tears forming. From the stressful event she encountered with Jellal earlier, now, _this_. Why were these series of unfortunate events happening to her? Was she really going to die? Everything around her became slower that instance; she felt the heat slowly consuming whatever remains in her coat, and through her hazy vision, she saw two sluggishly hands moving too dangerously close to her personal space. _"No… I don't want to die yet… Ultear... Someone… Help…"_

As if her prayers were answered, she felt as though time itself paused. She was startled when she no longer felt the heat behind her. The hands in front of her stopped too, though she herself still wasn't able to move. Everything felt surreal.

"_Everything…stopped…? Ultear, is it really you...?" _Despite being in her paralyzed state, Meredy found herself crying again. However, everything seemed to be back to reality when she heard another person's voice.

"What are you doing? Run!" commanded the male voice. It was coming from her left side, near the trees. He sounded familiar, but she couldn't pinpoint who.

Unable to turn her head, Meredy tried to speak, "C-can't…M-move…" So it seems the hold of the restriction magic lessened since she could somehow speak. Blinking her tears away, she realized that apparently time didn't stop. She found that Cherron was actually frozen in ice.

The owner of the male voice heard well enough. "Whose magic did that to you?"

"M-man…with…h-hat…" she answered back. Ice magic? Someone she knew who used that type of magic was Gray, but she was pretty sure that wasn't his voice.

"Ice-Make: Eagle!" she heard him say, causing several ice eagles to come crashing through Bade. The impact threw Bade to a nearby tree, hitting the trunk.

"Gah!" Bade spat blood due to the impact. Startled, he looked for the source but was overwhelmed by a sudden punch on his stomach, causing him to lose consciousness.

As he plunged to the ground, Meredy felt control over her body once more. She quickly turned around to see who save her, and saw a spiky silver-haired mage. "You're…"

"Now isn't the time for chitchat. Let's—" he wasn't able to finish his sentence when they both were alarmed by a sudden outrage, causing also what seems to be a bonfire. Hotclaw was on fire.

"HOOOH! You think some measly shitty ice could kill me? My fire is stronger! STRONGER!" Motioning his arms forward, spouts of flame plunged out of Hotclaw's fists towards the ice mage.

"You're annoying," the ice user merely replied. Before the fire could touch him, he created an ice incantation as one fisted hand hit the other opened palm. "Ice-Make: Shield!"

A barrier of ice formed, effectively blocking him from the flames.

"PUNK! I don't know who the hell you are, but you're pissing me off!" Hotclaw crossed his arms forward, furiously chattering, "This is already over! Flaming Falcon Blaze!" Consequently, an enormous flame shaped like a falcon emerged from his arms. The flapping wings caused several nearby leaves to burn.

"You don't know who I am?" Before he struck his palm to cast a spell, he immediately shed off his upper garments, confusing both Hotclaw and Meredy.

"Wh-why is he stripping?" Meredy, who was resting on the ground, stammered. She was clearly disturbed at what she's witnessing.

Hotclaw quickly recovered. "I don't know what the hell you're playing at, but be prepared to be melted by my flames! HOOOOH! FALCON, GO!" The fire falcon plummeted towards the ice mage.

But before the falcon reached him, he chanted a spell just on time: "Ice-Make: Lion!" And a frozen lion much more massive than the falcon engulfed it, effectively extinguishing the flames.

Smoke was produced due to the contact of both elements, hazing the vision of Hotclaw. He was caught off guard when the ice lion made its way towards him, fiercely assaulting him to the ground.

"Remember that name. Lyon." The ice mage said proudly, approaching the fallen fire mage. The impact from the attack caused half of Hotclaw's head to be dug to the soil. When Hotclaw didn't move any further, Lyon approached the blond one who was still frozen in ice. He noticed that he had a lascivious facial expression, along with hands positioned as if intending to grab something hungrily. Disgusted, Lyon turned away and broke the spell. Shards of ice broke from the body, and the man fell unconscious, undoubtedly frostbitten.

"'Lyon…" Meredy mused, and then sighted the guild mark of Lamia Scale on his chest. "Oh, that 'Lyon!'" she exclaimed. No wonder he was familiar. She recalled fighting alongside him against the dragons at the Grand Magic Games. The surge of memories from that incident paused when she sensed Lyon coming closer.

"Now that everything here is settled," Lyon started speaking, not wasting any time, "would you mind telling me what happened here?"

Meredy looked at the man standing before her. She knew he wasn't a foe, so there weren't any room for doubts. She nodded. "Of course. By the way, I'm—"

"You're Meredy. I know who you are," he mentioned without any apparent emotion.

A bit startled with the revelation, Meredy looked at him, pushing her thin eyebrows together; he appeared to have a stern expression on his face, but at that moment, she noticed him reaching out his hand towards her. Gawking at the outstretched hand, she then found her eyes travelling upwards towards his bare trunk. Suddenly realizing what she was doing, Meredy flushed and shook her head, taking his hand, which prompted him to aid her in standing on her feet. "B-but before anything else, I would like to thank you first," she expressed sincerely, shaking off her embarrassment. He didn't seem to notice it, much to Meredy's relief.

"It's nothing, I needed a warm up anyway," he said, shrugging his shoulders, "We better get going too before these guys wake up." He started walking away. Meredy nodded and followed him. She noticed something again, and felt her cheeks heating up. She hesitated at first, but she decided that she needed to tell him.

"Um, by the way, would you please wear your shirt first?"


	4. Chapter 4

"Wait, why are we going there?" Meredy questioned, walking behind Lyon. While it was true that it was already dark and the only source of light they had was Lyon's lacrima-powered lamp, she knew that they were heading back towards the gate, the place Jellal told her to run away from.

"I saw the explosion," he replied without turning his head towards her, "Why was there even an explosion in the first place?"

Meredy lowered her head. "I wish I knew too, but it's something both Jellal and I didn't foresee."

"Let me get this straight; so the two of you were battling a dark guild, as usual, and after defeating everyone, the gate appeared out of nowhere, separated the two of you, and this Jellal asked you to leave him?" he said. He didn't know why, but it felt as if something was wrong with the story. As if something (or someone?) was missing.

She muffled a "mmhm," in response, feelings of sadness returning when she recalled leaving her guild mate behind. "And the gate brought out a strong force which sapped our magic power. Honestly, I still feel really drained right now."

Then she found herself bumping onto something firm, yet not entirely hard. It was Lyon's back; he stopped in his tracks. She rubbed her bruised nose.

"Hey, why did you—"

But she was at loss for words as he was when she saw the setting before her. On the large field, where she had previously fought with Portico Dusk, nothing was left—not even a single body—but a massive crater. From what she had recollected, the dark gate was previously located at the radius of the crater, which was the deepest portion of the hollow. She frantically ran past Lyon, going over the area.

"Jellal! Jellal!" but she heard nothing. "Jellal…!" she felt her knees going weak. "Where are you…?" she said faintly, and then fell on her knees, her body lightly shaking. She felt her tears rising once more, but a firm hand fell on her shoulder. She turned her head and came face-to-face with the ice mage.

"Clearly, this place is deserted, but we can't be too sure about the surrounding areas," Lyon said, eyeing the trees from the forest, "And it's dark; it's best if we leave."

She could only find herself nodding, feebly standing up once more. Lyon guided her back to the forest, leading the way like before. This time though, he kept a closer distance to her, aware that she may fall down any minute.

Both were silent as they walked past the many trees and bushes. Lyon found himself slightly turning his head, looking at his companion at the corner of his eye. He couldn't see her face clearly as she had her head lowered.

"_This Meredy…"_ he thought. He was well aware that she was a fugitive, but as he scanned at the dejected form beside him, all he saw was a girl—sad, battered, and exhausted. He almost couldn't believe that she was once a criminal, a member of the dark guild Grimiore Heart. He assumed that she must've gone through a lot of change considering she was in a guild aiming to defeat those dark guilds, _Crime Sorcière_. Jura spoke to him about the guild before. From what he learned, it had three members—Jellal Fernandes, the ex-councillor; Meredy, this girl; and…

"Ultear," he whispered. That was it. That's why he felt something was wrong. "Hey, where's Ultear?" he asked, fully facing her now. He lifted his lamp closer to her to illuminate her face more.

But upon the mention of that name, Meredy stopped walking, which confused Lyon. He stopped walking as well.

"Hey," he asked, already discomfited, "you okay?" He reached his hand forward in an attempt to tap her shoulder, but was startled when she finally lifted her head, showing her tearful face. Waterfalls of tears were streaming down her face, mixing with the dirt and blood on her flushed cheeks. Lyon creased his eyebrows; it was one of the most pitiful sights he had ever seen. He froze on his spot; he didn't know what to do. He was never really the comforting type.

"I, I—" she started saying weakly, but she suddenly stumbled side wards, plummeting to the ground. However, Lyon quickly caught her, consequently dropping the lamp on the dry soil.

"Shit," he swore quietly, shaking her shoulders. "Hey, wake up!" There was no response, but she was still breathing. He held her wrist and felt a weak pulse. He knew it was bound to happen sooner, but he couldn't help but think that it also had something to do with what he said. He knew there was probably a reason why Ultear wasn't there. He felt a hint of guilt.

Lyon gently placed her on the ground, leaning her back on the tree. A part of him was saying that he should leave her behind, since he was still on an entirely different mission after all, and that she was still a fugitive, no matter what circumstances. However, his conscience countered that he couldn't just leave her there, considering that she didn't even have enough power to fight the three goons earlier. It also didn't help that they were still within the vicinity of where they left the trio, and he couldn't risk fighting them again.

Cursing again, he finally made up his mind on what to do. "Ice-Make: Wings!"

The next thing Meredy knew, a cold brush of air was hitting her face. She opened her eyes gradually, and saw the cobalt blue skies of the night. It was a cloudless evening.

"Good to see that you're finally awake," she heard a voice. Shifting her head, she realized that Lyon was carrying her in his arms, and they were soaring in the skies through his ice wings. She attempted to shift her position, much to Lyon's dismay.

"Stop moving," he said irritatingly, tightening his grip around her shoulder, "unless you want me to drop you from this height?"

She finally stopped. "You've already done a lot for me," she softly exclaimed, "let's go back to the ground, please?"

Lyon looked at her first and found himself complying, gradually descending to the ground. They landed beside the river on the large valley. Lyon bent his body forward to let Meredy stand on her feet.

"Clean yourself up," he voiced coolly, "You're a mess." He sat on the grass and fumbled through his knapsack. He brought out his lamp, turning it on, illuminating their surroundings enough.

She nodded slightly, going by the riverside. She splashed water on her face, feeling the prickling pain on her cheek caused by Bade's blade. Ignoring it, she continued cleaning her face, rubbing away the smudge of dirt and blood. Moments later, she found herself moving back towards Lyon, who was munching over a piece of bread. He offered one to her, but she shook her head lightly. He simply shrugged and continued eating.

Lyon glanced over the sky. It didn't look like the sun was going to rise any sooner. He searched for his pocket watch in his bag and confirmed the time; 12:15AM. He thought they may as well rest. He looked over his companion, who was sitting while hugging her knees. Similar before, she had her head lowered.

"You aren't very talkative, are you," was what he wanted to say, but suddenly recalled all the mishaps she had been through earlier. When he finally decided to just shut up, she began speaking.

"Ur is gone," she said forlornly, without lifting her head to face him.

Upon hearing the name of his teacher, his eyebrows creased. "Of course she's gone, that's a long time ago," was what he thought to say, but not after hearing what she had to say next.

"After the Grand Magic Games, I never got to see her again. She only left a letter bidding farewell. Jellal was the only family I had left," she continued without having a second thought.

Lyon almost slapped himself upon grasping his mistake. Of course the "Ur" she was talking about the daughter of his teacher, Ultear. He realized that she was actually answering his question before she passed out. He suddenly lost his appetite.

"You know, maybe if she was still with us, none of this would have happened. Jellal would have still been with us," she muttered weakly, voice and shoulders trembling, "But she's not, and I'm just not strong enough…"

"_Shit_." Lyon gritted his teeth. At this rate, he felt that she was again on the verge of crying. He hated handling crying people—much more girls—though from his experience, he could make a crying Chelia stop by taking her out for ice cream (though he really was unsure if it was only because it was _him_ taking _her_ out for something or she simply liked the treat). Currently, the problem was, he knew next to nothing about Meredy.

As if reading his mind all along, she said, "Don't worry, I won't cry anymore," much to Lyon's relief. She took a deep breath, and finally raised her head. "I'm too tired." She forced a sad smile; seeing this, the corner of Lyon's mouth twitched.

"What do you plan to do now?" he asked, without looking away.

"Jellal instructed me to go to Fairy Tail and tell them everything. He believes they can help."

"I see, Fairy Tail, huh." He silently agreed with Jellal's choice; he hated to admit it, but Fairy Tail was a strong and reliable guild, who had plenty of powerful mages. Though he had to confess, a part of his pride was hurt; he would much prefer hearing her asking help from his guild instead.

She continued, eyeing the grass swaying from the night's breeze. "But after that, honestly, I have no idea what I'll do. Of course, I'll be aiding Fairy Tail in discovering the other secrets of Portico Dusk, but I still have to keep my distance from them. I wouldn't want to trouble their master." She started drawing circles on the ground with her finger. "But the bigger picture is, I'm not even sure if Jellal is coming back after everything is over." She then paused, saying the next words with a softer voice. "I have no one to return home to."

"Then join Lamia Scale," was what he wanted to say, but knew it wouldn't be that easy. She was a wanted person, and her joining the Lamia Scale would taint its name, or heck, even any other legal guilds like Fairy Tail, should she be found out. He was at loss for words.

"Not only that, I'm not confident that I would be able serve Crime Sorcière's purpose." She stopped drawing circles and took a deep breath. "Defeating dark guilds? On my own? I couldn't even defeat three dark mages by myself."

Lyon clicked his tongue. "You're underestimating yourself. You didn't have your full power that time. You were exhausted."

Meredy presented a small smile. "Heh, you're too kind. But when I think about it, fighting dark guilds by myself sounds silly. It's like a suicide mission. I'm no Jellal or Ur. I would only bring shame to the guild if I just get defeated in the end."

He did not know how to reply to that. He couldn't really argue that taking on dark guilds alone was crazy.

Seeing his flabbergasted expression, Meredy couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Enough about me now." She showed that small smile that didn't reach her ears. "What brought you here?"

Lyon looked away. He was really bothered by Meredy's circumstance. And that smile, he disliked it; he felt it was fake. "I'm on a job. I need to find something. It just so happens that the location of that object is near this place." He viewed her again. She actually appeared to be listening intently. "You were lucky."

"Yes, indeed I am." She smiled faintly again. "If it wasn't for you, I might be dead right now."

Hearing those words, Lyon somehow doubted that she fully meant what she had said. She was devastated earlier, now she's actually thankful for living? Shrugging the thought of, he simply said, "Yeah."

"So what is this object that you need to find?" she inquired, curiosity seen in her eyes.

"It's a special type of flower which apparently bloomed only under extremely low temperatures." He looked up at the corner of his eye, recalling the details of the job. "There wasn't a name nor was there any description of the flower, but the requestor said it could be found in Hibiscus forest. I figured I should just freeze just about any single flower I see there and look if there's any that had any blooming effect."

Meredy sweatdropped. "You should have at least researched a bit.'

Lyon simply looked away and crossed his arms, letting out an annoyed huff.

Meredy stifled a giggle, and then pointed a finger to her chin. "Hmm, but a 'flower that blooms under extremely low temperatures…'" She shut her eyes, thinking deeply. "I think I recall Ultear telling me a story about a flower with the same description."

He looked back. "Really?"

Meredy giggled again. "Yes, Ice-Make is Ultear's original magic after all, just like you."

Lyon mentally slapped himself, an image of his mentor, Ur, flashing on his mind. "_Of course, how could I have not made that connection?"_

Meredy smiled again. "Would you allow me to help you out? It's the least I could do for everything that you did for me."

He watched her sceptically; he noticed that her smiles were becoming wider, bit by bit. It somehow pleased Lyon. He then considered her offer. He'd be lying if he said there wasn't a part of him not wanting to associate himself with a fugitive, but when he saw the hopeful gleam in her bright green eyes, he couldn't find himself refusing her. "Fair enough. We'll start moving immediately when the sun rises." He somewhat empathized with her too; similar to her, he was at the wrong side before. Why not give her a chance as well?

He fumbled through his bag again and then threw a plastic with bread onto her lap.

"And since you're coming with me, you should at least regain your energy. I don't want you passing out again." He saw her blink several times before commanding, "Eat."

Meredy shifted her eyes from the bread, then to Lyon, then back to the bread. For one last time, she looked at Lyon. He looked serious. She muffled a giggle once more. "Yes, sir."

* * *

**A/N: **And that ends the fourth chapter! I'd like to thank the story watchers too. Hope I wouldn't disappoint! As usual, reviews are really appreciated! :3 I'd really like to know how you think of the story so far.


	5. Chapter 5

When Lyon noticed the first orange hues tinting the sky, he proceeded to pack his belongings inside his rucksack. He looked over at Meredy; she was lying on the grass with her back facing him.

Earlier, after she finished eating about four loaves (she still left one for him, perhaps she was being modest, he thought), Lyon instructed her to rest and told her he would be on watch. She protested at first, but he managed to convince her by reminding her that she probably hasn't recharged her magic power. He offered his bag for her to lay her head on, but she politely declined, taking off her seared cape and folded it, turning it into a makeshift pillow. She then laid down, facing the river.

Truthfully, Lyon was unsure whether she was sleeping the whole time or not, but when he saw the rise and fall of her shoulders, he was at least at ease with the regular rhythm of her breathing. At least he had nothing to worry about. Both stayed quiet for the rest of the night.

Lyon found his eyes travelling to her bare upper back, which was concealed by the cape earlier. In between her shoulder blades, he saw the emblem of her guild, _Crime Sorcière_. He wanted to take a closer look, but some of her pink hair was masking it. He resisted the urge to stand up and gather her hair towards one side.

Unbeknownst to Lyon, Meredy was actually awake the whole time. She had her eyes focused on the streams of the river, envisioning the memories associated with a body of water.

"_Ur! Ur! Look, water, water!" A 10-year old Meredy gleefully exclaimed, immediately jumping on the pond. It was only ankle-deep, so Meredy was able to freely skip around in circles._

"_Be careful," Ultear reminded her and moved by the edge of the pond. "And I thought I told you never to call me that again?"_

_Meredy sat down, waddling her hands on the water. "Huh? But why?"_

_Ultear gave her a small smile. "I'll tell you when you get older. You'll understand by then."_

"_That sucks!" She crossed her arms, pouting._

_The time mage couldn't help but laugh. "'That sucks?' Now where did you learn that?" She started removing her footwear, stepping on the pond as well. "From Zancrow, is it?"_

"_Yup!" Meredy glanced towards Ultear, and then displayed a toothy grin. She held out her pinky finger. "But it's okay, as long as you still promise to tell me!"_

"_Of course, I promise," she replied, giving back a sincere smile as well. She bent down on Meredy's level and then curled her pinky finger onto the child's, sealing their promise._

"_Yey!" Meredy wrapped her tiny arms around Ultear, surprising the dark-haired woman. "I love you very much, Ultear!"_

"_Sheesh, you're really such a big kid." Placing her hand onto the pink-haired girl's body, Ultear closed her eyes, smiling. "I love you too, Meredy."_

The characters from the scenery then changed; Meredy grew taller, and Ultear was replaced by another woman with blue hair—Juvia.

"_I live for the one's I love!" The water mage screamed, tears flowing down her eyes, "You've got to, as well! If you have love in your life, then you must keep on living!"_

_Meredy found herself crying too, contemplating on Juvia's words. Their battle ended as both of them fell on their backs on the water at the same time…_

…causing the vision of the memory to shatter. Immediately after, Meredy was reoriented back to reality when she heard a distinct male voice.

"Hey," Lyon said from behind her. She turned around and saw him standing a few feet away from her. "Let's get going. He gestured his head towards the sky. It was gradually becoming brighter, orange colours overlapping the dark blue ones.

Meredy nodded in response and quickly sat up, wrapping her tattered cape around her shoulders once more. Lyon's brows wrinkled when he noticed that her worn-out cape barely covered the middle of her back, which he probably didn't detect earlier since it was too dark. If it wasn't for her hair, her guild mark would already be peeking from behind, for the whole world to see. Normally there was really nothing wrong with showing emblem of a guild. It was the symbol of their pride and loyalty to their group, after all. However, Meredy was a special case; while Crime Sorcière had good intentions, the fact that its members were once wanted criminals could not be erased. At that moment, that emblem shouted Meredy's identity, which, if discovered by someone else, wouldn't be good for both of them. Lyon frowned inwardly.

"Well, I'm ready," the girl said, looking at her companion. Her voice softened when she saw the serious look on his face "…let's go?"

"Wait." His look was still unwavering, and Meredy felt her heart striking in panic when she saw him removing his blue mantle.

"_Wait are you stripping again_—?" she felt her mind ask before the mantle was shoved onto her face. "Wha?"

"Your guild mark." He then gestured to his own back. He saw a wave of understanding in Meredy's face as she touched her own, realizing that it really was exposed. "Take this."

Meredy waved her hands in front of her. "No, no! That won't be necessary! I could just let my hair down, see?" She removed her pony tail, allowing the hair to fall down under her shoulders.

The expression of his face remained unchanged. While her hair was indeed long enough to cover her until the middle of her back, he was still unconvinced. "We can't risk it. If somebody else sees…" When he saw the sceptical look on her face, he reluctantly said the next words. He didn't want to say it, but he was left with no choice. "Look, we're not the only ones who could be affected here. The name of my guild is on the line too."

A look of surprise washed over Meredy's face, followed by a look of shame as she lowered her head. "Oh, yes. I'm still a criminal, after all. My apologies; that was very selfish of me…" She took the mantle from his hand and draped it over her shoulders, effectively covering her back.

"That..." Uncomfortable, Lyon looked away, "that wasn't what I meant…"

"No, it's okay, it's okay." She closed her eyes and forced a smile. "It is the truth anyway. Let's go, then?"

Lyon finally looked at her and nodded awkwardly. They started walking north towards the forest. Neither spoke another word.

The travel wasn't as far as they had expected, and about 20 minutes later, they already reached Hibiscus Village. It was a pretty small village with no more than ten wooden cabins.

"Looks like we're here in the village." Lyon surveyed the place. "Want to grab something to eat?"

She replied a "mmhm" and they approached a nearby fruit stand. Various fruits were organized and piled per box. Both decided that they'll settle for an apple individually.

As Lyon reached for his bag to obtain some jewels, he remembered Meredy. "So, will you be able to…?"

Meredy showed a small smile, and then slightly turned her body towards the right. She patted on something at the back of her waist; it was a small pouch bag. "Don't worry. I have some jewels left here. I'll be able to pay."

After they handed the necessary jewels, they headed immediately to Hibiscus Forest as they munched on their newly bought apples.

"Do you happen to recall any significant details about the flower?" Lyon asked, looking over the forest for any sort of flower.

"If I'm not mistaken," the pink-haired mage scrunched her eyes shut, "'Colours are vibrant, rarely have a scent,' and the last detail, 'blooms much beautifully when touched with a frosty wind,' or something like that."

Lyon eyed the dismal green surroundings. "Well, we could easily see something 'vibrantly' coloured here. Everything here looks pretty dull."

She could not help but nod in response. "That's true, but where exactly could they be? We've been already walking around here yet we haven't seen a single—" Meredy stopped just in time to see Lyon halting on his tracks, not wanting to repeat the nose-hurting incident before. "_He should at least warn me when he stops like this_," she thought vexingly as she walked beside him.

Her eyes then widened at the sight before them.

Before them, a field, albeit small, was rich with various differently coloured flowers, a great contrast to the dull-coloured trees surrounding them. The sun was already angled high above the sky, its rays aiding in enhancing the elegance of each flower further.

"It's…beautiful." Meredy could only gape, eyes sparkling.

"I know," Lyon replied, a tone mixed with confidence and excitement apparent in his voice.

Then, a sound of something hitting the ground caught Meredy's attention.

Lyon was kneeling on the floor, with the palms of his hands on the ground. The soil he was touching was slowly being covered in ice.

"Wait! What are you doing—?!" Before she could stop him, a path of ice quickly emerged towards one bush, which then froze when the ice reached it; Meredy could only watch in horror. "Are you crazy?!" she loudly exclaimed, moving towards the frozen bush.

"You're overreacting," he exasperatingly retorted, as he walked towards the bush as well.

"Look, it's, it's frozen!" She ran her hands on the bush's icy surface. "How are we supposed to see them bloom if they're frozen solid?"

Lyon merely shrugged. "I'll just have to release the spell, then." He touched the bush, and slowly, it returned to its original state and colour…

…except the leaves and flowers wilted.

Meredy crossed her arms, tapping a finger on her arm and showing him a see-what-you-did look.

Lyon coughed awkwardly, a bit ashamed. "Well, at least that's one type of flower off the list."

"But don't do it again!" Meredy exclaimed frantically. "You'll end up killing all of the flowers here!"

"Hmph, fine, what should I do, then?" The ice mage faced her, crossing his arms as well.

"Don't you have a milder ice spell?" She responded, and then her eyes widened, remembering something. "Also, didn't you say that it only stays into a bud or something under normal temperatures? How about you target just the flower buds, instead of the already fully grown ones?"

Lyon contemplated on what she said. True enough, he really should keep in mind the damage control; he didn't want to be compared to the likes of Fairy Tail in that regard. A thought then surged in his mind. "You," he pointed at Meredy, who looked a bit startled with him. "I need an extra pair of eyes with what I'm about to do."

Before she could question him any further, he squeezed his eyes shut and slammed his palms together, an ice transmutation appearing before him. Subsequently, his hands glowed cyan. "Ice-Make: Butterfly!"

Then, a vast number of ice butterflies withdrew from his hands, soaring towards the bushes. Then, each one landed on a bud. Meredy was left speechless, seeing another stunning sight before her.

He tapped her shoulder. "Now, go over each of the flower buds landed on by the butterflies, and see if there's any development whatsoever. I'll take the plants on the left; you take the right."

Impressed, she nodded energetically and pranced to the right side. The pair went over each bud carefully. For about five minutes, none of them said anything.

"See anything yet?" Lyon inquired, already at the fourth bush. He still needed to go over about ten more.

Meredy shook her head. "I'm afraid not," as she was still at her side's third bush. Moments passed and none of them spoke of any good news.

"I'm already at the last bush," Meredy said disheartened. "I still don't see anything. You think maybe the coldness isn't enough this time?"

Lyon wrinkled his brow; he was also at his last flower bush. This job wasn't really as easy as he thought. "Maybe. Should I double the butterflies, then?"

"Wait," the pink-haired girl said suddenly, "Look at this!"

Lyon approached her and looked at what she pointed at. Interestingly enough, on a single flower, there were two butterflies.

"Nothing is really happening though, similar to the other flowers," Meredy stated, taking a closer look. From her peripheral vision, she perceived that Lyon did the same thing as well. She slightly rotated her head to see Lyon's face more or less an inch away from her. She felt her face heating a bit due to the close proximity, and chose to turn back to the flower in an attempt to cool herself instead.

Abruptly, Lyon grabbed the flower stem, much to Meredy's surprise. Consequently, the butterflies from around them also shattered into ice bits, earning a twitch from the unprepared girl. She then looked back to Lyon, who appeared to be concentrating on the flower. Suddenly realizing what he was about to do, Meredy seized Lyon's hand.

"Wait. You're going to do it again, right?" she questioned him, still clutching his hand. A flash of the wilted bush entered her mind. "Are you sure? This is the only flower which is different… Don't you think we should be more cautious in handling it?"

With all the words that Meredy uttered, she only found him responding with a firm stare, along with a nod. Nothing really left to reply, she could only nod back.

Immediately after seeing her approval, Lyon let out his spell, slowly shrouding the flower with ice from the stem up to the bud. When it was completely frozen, they waited for several seconds before Lyon broke the spell, allowing the plant to return to its original colour.

Meredy stared at the flower nervously, a part of her anticipating that the flower would wilt as well. Beside her, Lyon was gazing at it too, though the expression of his determined face remained unchanged.

To Meredy's amazement and slight confusion, the flower did not wilt after being subjected to the extreme temperature. Then, she saw the two ice butterflies (apparently, they didn't shatter earlier, she thought) and landed on the flower bud.

And that was when the magic happened.

A few seconds after contact with the ice butterflies, the flower bud slowly opened, revealing a hue of blue and magenta on the petals. The flower continued blooming, displaying further its vibrant shades. The butterflies continued flapping their wings, which were giving off tiny ice bits that fell on the petals, further amplifying its beauty through the sparkle it emitted.

"This is…" Meredy started, her eyes glistening with admiration, "…wonderful."

Lyon finally changed the expression of his face; this time, smiling contentedly. "It's exactly because it's only flower showing a different reaction that I'm sure of it."

Meredy was astonished with his resolve, somehow admiring his boldness. She could only smile in response, shifting her eyes back to the flower, which further widened her smile.

It was probably the truest smile he had seen from her so far. Though he wouldn't admit it openly, it definitely pleased Lyon.

They stayed like that minutes later, appreciating what they see. But Lyon found that he needed to say something then.

"Now that we finally found this, will you please let go of my hand?"

A yelp was heard from Meredy as she pulled her hand away. "S-sorry!"

Lyon could only laugh at her embarrassment.

* * *

**A/N:** And that's chapter five! Since the job is almost over, they'll be meeting with the other characters soon! As usual, I'd really like to know what you think! Special thank you to princessforeveralone for always leaving reviews. I really, really appreciate it!


	6. Chapter 6

Meredy held a cylindrical glass container and raised it towards the sky, admiring the beauty residing within it. Within the cylinder was the flower, which was still glistening its effervescent colours. "It's really beautiful. Just looking at it really makes me feel refreshed," Meredy said with awe.

They already began heading south, currently at the forest between Hibiscus Village and the valley.

"Too bad for you, though. I need to give that to my client in exchange for my reward." Lyon smirked. He saw how she faked a pout, making him smirk even further.

"That's really too bad," she uttered while releasing a sigh. "If you don't mind me asking," she started saying as she brought the glass cylinder down at waist level, "who is your client? I wonder what he'll do with something like this."

"Actually, I really don't know as well. The job request didn't have the name of my client; just his address. He also didn't require me to meet with him beforehand, stating that all the necessary information were already written there." He glanced at what she held between her fingers. "That container you're holding came along with the job request. Apparently it would keep that flower in top condition until we reach his place."

Meredy raised an eyebrow, passing the glass cylinder to Lyon, who then placed it inside his rucksack. "Weren't you afraid that this might just be a ruse?"

"I've considered that, but I've asked someone about the address." The ice mage turned his head towards her. "You know Jura-san, right?"

"Of course," she said confidently, then raising one finger, "Jura Neekis of Lamia Scale, one of the ten wizard saints."

Lyon nodded, affirming her knowledge. "So yeah, I asked Jura-san about it. He actually looked quite baffled when he first read the address, but assured me afterwards that the job was definitely valid."

"He didn't tell you who it was from?"

"No, he told me that the client probably had a reason why he didn't want to reveal himself yet. He said I should just see him for myself when I finish this mission." Lyon placed a hand on his chin, contemplating. "For some reason, I think he's a very important person, though."

"Perhaps he is," Meredy replied, giving him a small smile. They finally arrived at the valley.

Lyon brought out his map and compass, going through the locations. "From here, we just need to go south towards Clover Forest again, so we'll be back at Clover Town. From there, it's a 20-minute walking distance from my client's house." Lyon faced her again, "What about you, though? Are you still coming with me, or are you going to ride the train to Magnolia already?"

Meredy didn't reply immediately, as if it was something she hadn't really thought of yet. She fiddled her fingers, looking on the ground. "If, if I'm not really a bother to you, I really don't mind coming along to your client's house…" She raised her head, displaying a small grin at him. "Besides, I still have your mantle. I could return it to you after we visit your client, then I could buy my own when we're back at Clover Town!"

Lyon showed her a doubtful look at first. He couldn't convince himself to point out that she could actually just buy a new mantle the time they arrive Clover Town,_ before_ even going to his client's place. Beneath her grinning façade, Lyon sensed that she was hiding something. Was it fear? Even though he was, again, bothered by it, he decided it wasn't the time to question her at the moment. "I'm fine with it. Let's go, then?" He started walking again.

Meredy, on the other hand, nodded happily and followed after him. They walked until they were at the edge of the valley, in front of the trees of Clover Forest.

Just then, Meredy was startled when she heard Lyon casted, "Ice-Make: Eagle!"

But instead of the numerous eagles that attacked Hotclaw before, a rather enormous ice eagle emerged from his hands, large enough for two people to ride it. Lyon hopped onto it.

"I assume you also went through this huge-ass forest before. I don't know about you, but I'm not really up to walking through it again." He reached out his hand to her. "So are you up to it?"

From the ice creature, she turned her head towards the forest. It was true, it was a tiring walk; she even recalled thinking if they were already lost, though she probably did not bother herself much since Jellal just kept walking back then. But then she looked at the ice eagle before him. There wasn't even a saddle or something, and considering that she was wearing a short dress (with not-so thick fabric too), she could even die of frostbite.

"What's wrong?" he asked, seeing the uncertain look on her face.

Meredy looked away in embarrassment. "Sorry if it sounds imposing, but don't you have something to at least cover the bare ice? I don't think I can..." She slightly pulled the fabric of her dress down, trying to make him realize her problem.

Lyon raised a thin eyebrow. "Oh, _that. _You can sit on me, then."

"WHAT?!" Her face immediately turned red. No matter what position she thought, all of them turned out compromising.

He sneered at her reaction. "Just kidding."

She was about to lash out something at him, but was rendered speechless when she saw him doffing his tunic, exposing his naked trunk. At that moment, the colour of her face was even more vibrant than the pinkness of her hair. She saw him folding the clothing, and then placing it behind him.

"This is the most that I could do," he said with a straight face, "Either this, or you could just walk."

Her face still flushed, she glanced back at the forest. To be honest, she didn't really want to walk there again, especially considering that she would be going through it alone. That's the thing that she was trying to avoid most. Justifying that it was the most convenient decision to make, she said with a tone of hesitance, "Alright, I'll go with you." She took his hand, and hopped on the spot behind him.

"It'll still be cold, mind you," he mentioned with that same smirk before, "Just bear with it for a while."

"N-no kidding," she stuttered, already feeling the coldness on her hips and buttocks beneath Lyon's folded tunic.

The ice eagle then started flapping its wings, ascending through the skies. "Hold on tight."

In actuality, Meredy didn't really need to be commanded as she found herself already flinging her arms onto his bare waist due to the increasing velocity of the ride.

Plus the icy feeling beneath her.

Plus the breeze from the wind.

Meredy could only hope that it would be over soon.

Lyon could only laugh to himself, feeling her clatter behind him. Since ice was his element, he had a higher tolerance for low temperatures. It was also thanks to Ur that he developed that skill due to her training sessions. He couldn't really blame Meredy for being like that; he briefly recalled the first time he trained with Ur when they wore almost nothing on one snowy day. He muffled a laugh. Those were the days.

"D-don't l-laugh... N-not f-f-funny," she shivered, still clinging on to him. Although she was already in direct contact with his skin, she felt that there wasn't really any semblance of warmth within him. True, he wasn't as cold as the ice beneath her, but he certainly wasn't warm. Were ice mages really like this, at least when they were using magic? She didn't recall Ultear to be this cold; though to be fair, Meredy hadn't really come in contact with Ultear as close as _this_ when she used her Ice-Make magic before.

"Sorry," he said, lightly laughing. Meredy wasn't really expecting that, since she assumed he'd say something less nice instead. "I guess this is an ice mage thing, being able to withstand this temperature."

"W-wish I-I k-knew h-how..." He could then feel her lips trembling behind him.

"You know, our mentor once said, that 'to control the chill, we need to feel the chill.'" He recalled the happy, innocent moments which ended when they were attacked by the demon, Deliora. "As I've said, this may be an ice mage thing, but I guess you could try not to think of the cold as a negative thing."

"S-so you j-just f-feel it? T-think it?"

"Yeah, I guess," he answered. The next thing he knew, a pink glowing seal appeared on his wrist. Looking at the arms around him, he saw that it also appeared on Meredy's own. Alarmed, he suddenly surveyed the skies, turning around to see if there was an enemy.

"D-don't w-worry, that's j-just m-me..." she said, as Lyon stopped his movements to glance at her.

He suddenly had thoughts of being cold, but he simply brushed it away, already used to the sensation. Slowly, the clattering behind him lessened. "What's happening…?" he asked, puzzled.

"We now have s-shared senses and emotions," she explained, her shivers lessening. "Since y-you have a stronger control over what's h-happening, I c-could allow you overpower my own." She saw his eyes widen in enlightenment.

"_So this is her magic_," he thought, having only heard from reports that her magic had something to do with sensations. However, it was only now when he had actually witnessed (and experienced) how it was done. Honestly, he didn't know what to feel knowing that she was sort of using him at that moment, but he realized that he didn't really mind. "So am I right in assuming that you aren't feeling cold right now, similar to me?"

"To be honest, I still f-feel the coldness, since there wasn't really anything d-done to the ice." Lyon then felt her gradually loosening her grip on his trunk, though the arms still held onto him for support, "Though I could t-tolerate it better now, thanks to you. S-sorry you were surprised. I s-should've asked your permission first."

"Don't mention it. At least you aren't deathly clinging on to me now," he said light-heartedly, earning him a "hmpf" from the girl. Though he would never really admit it, a part of him was actually disappointed that she wasn't holding on to him that much anymore.

Lyon then gazed forward, now seeing a bunch of houses instead of trees.

"I think we're here." He felt her shifting from behind, peeking at the ground as well.

She positioned herself back in midline. "I guess we are, thank g-goodness."

Gradually, they descended to the ground and jumped off the ice eagle, which then shattered into ice bits when Lyon broke the spell. He then donned his tunic when Meredy, who was trying to avoid eye contact, handed it to him, saying "thanks" in the process. She broke her spell too, the seal disappearing from their wrists.

Both of them decided to go to a nearby shop, though it was more for Meredy who was still shivering (she decided to buy a cup of hot chocolate). Afterwards, they went their way towards the mountains, where the client resided.

"It's really peaceful here, the air is really fresh," Meredy mentioned, sipping the last drop of hot chocolate from her paper cup. She glanced at the surroundings. The breeze was cool, the sky was clearly blue, and the plants around appeared lively, with butterflies soaring above them. Even rabbits and squirrels which were hiding among trees seemed to welcome them.

Lyon merely nodded, looking at his map. "The house should already be around here somewhere."

"There!" Meredy exclaimed, pointing at a house meters away from them. Lyon followed the direction of her finger and walked faster, causing her to catch up.

"I can't wait to see who it is," he said excitedly, coming closer and closer to the house,

"Me too," Meredy replied, and seconds later, they were already standing in front of the house.

Lyon observed the structure before him. "Guess this is the place." It matched the address, as well as the description from the job request.

"This person must really like plants, though," Meredy mentioned, taking note of the trees growing out of the walls of the house.

Lyon then knocked on the door, and turned the knob, realizing that it was open.

"Good afternoon, we're mages from Lamia Scale," Lyon started, then feasting his eyes on the several plants around him. His eyes stopped on the person who was wearing a coat.

"Lamia Scale...?" The man said threateningly, a dark aura looming over him. "I didn't ask for them... My plants don't like uninvited guests."

Lyon and Meredy looked at each other, sweat dropping from the faces.

"Are we at the wrong house...?" she whispered, gulping in nervousness.

Lyon shrugged his shoulder. "But the description matched the place..."

Just when they were about to apologize, the man turned around, revealing a face reminiscent of a tree. "Wahaha! That was a joke! I never knew my jokes would work on you, youngsters! Wahahahaha!"

Lyon grimaced slightly at him, while Meredy could only gawk.

The ice mage, quite annoyed, then started speaking. "Sir, I'm sorry, but you are...?"

"Ohhh! Haven't I placed my name on the job request?" He then grabbed a piece of paper from his pocket, one similar to the paper Lyon read before he took the mission. "Uh-oh! It seems I simply forgot! My apologies!" The man bent his body forward, laughing his heart out. The two weren't really amused. The client then coughed, standing more properly. "My name is Walrod. Walrod Cken."

Both Lyon and Meredy paled.

"The wizard saint?!" Meredy loudly uttered, placing her hands on her mouth.

"One of the four heavenly gods of Ishgal?!" Lyon said with disbelief. So his client really was an important person!

"Just kidding!" The man then said, which made the two look dismayed. "...I'd be kidding if I was kidding," he continued.

The two then scratched their head in annoyance.

"You must be the ice mage, Lyon-kun!" The wizard saint then approached Meredy and reached out his arms to place them on her shoulders. "My, I never knew you were such a fine, young woman!"

The real 'Lyon' looked at them appalled.

"Wait, I'm not—" she started, but then Walrod suddenly burst out laughing.

"It was a joke! It was a joke! Wahahaha!"

They simply brought their shoulders down, already tired of his jokes. The wizard saint laughed one last time. "Since you are both here, I assume job is done?"

Lyon nodded, taking out the glass container from his bag.

Walrod eyed the specimen inside the cylinder. After examining it, a content smile appeared from his face. "Perfect."

Lyon stood proudly, handing the container to his client. Meredy watched him from the corner of her eye, grinning.

"Well, I think I owe the two of you something. But why don't we have tea first?" He motioned them outside. The two nodded and followed him.

Outside the house, Lyon and Meredy sat across each other, and were served with their own cups of tea. Both uttered their 'thanks.'

The wizard saint sat on the spot between them, "The plant you are holding right now…That is extremely rare." He sipped from his cup, closing his eyes. "It's the only one in existence in this entire continent."

Meredy almost spat her tea with the revelation. Lyon was still calmly listening.

"Just kidding. Wahahaha!" Meredy almost glared at him, while Lyon's facial expression remained unchanged, as if he was expecting it. "In truth, it really is rare. There are actually only two places where it has grown. You have been to one place, Hibiscus Forest; as for the other one, I requested another guild with a powerful ice mage to retrieve it."

"Fairy Tail," Lyon said unconsciously. Meredy nodded at him, thinking the same.

Walrod nodded more vigorously, holding his cup by his side. "Oh yes, it is Fairy Tail! How did you know? Wahahaha!" He then sipped from his cup again. "Well, I don't think that's important right now. Let's not waste any time, shall we?" He brought a pouch from his coat. "As promised, here is your reward, Lyon-kun."

Lyon reached for the pouch, gratefully accepting it. "Thank you, Walrod-san."

"No, it's really thanks to you," Walrod said, his mouth curving upwards. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to do something inside the house again. You're free to go after you've finished your drinks."

Lyon shifted awkwardly, standing up. Meredy stood up too and positioned herself beside the ice mage. "Again, thank you for the opportunity to help you, Walrod-san," he said, bowing down.

"No, really, it's me who is truly grateful to you," the wizard saint said, turning his head. "This isn't just a simple rare plant. There is actually something special about it."

He started moving towards his house once more. The two mages could only watch as he further walked away.

"I won't tell you until I've taken care of it and raised their numbers. Come back again after a few months, and I'll tell you everything without secrets. I could even let you have one of them so you could give it to your girlfriend," the wizard saint playfully remarked, looking at Meredy, which caused the girl to widen her eyes.

"Wait, he's not my—" Meredy started, waving her arms in front of her, but the ice mage was faster.

"This brat isn't my girlfriend," Lyon retorted indifferently, resting one arm over her head.

Meredy was shocked with how he regarded her. "I'm not a brat!" she screamed annoyingly, taking his arm off her head. Only Ultear had the right to call her something like that, remembering the former's tendency to call her "big kid." Heck, _big_ _kid_ wasn't even that close to_ brat_!

"Yes you are." He tried to keep a straight face. "So demanding."

"I'm not demanding!" She crossed her arms, looking away from him. "At least I'm not a reckless old man!"

Slightly offended, Lyon combed his silver hair. "I'm not an old man."

The wizard saint wanted to say that he was just kidding, but seeing that banter in front of him, he just found himself laughing heartily. The two didn't seem to notice him.

"Oh, by the way," Walrod suddenly said, earning the attention of the other two mages, "since we spoke about Fairy Tail earlier, there's a festival right now at Magnolia, I just heard. If I was younger, I would have come. I heard many guests are even coming over, even the Magic Council! It must be something extravagant!"

"A festival, huh?" Lyon said to no one in particular. Fairy Tail sure liked colourful events like those.

"Yes, a festival! Wahahaha! Well, that's all! Be sure to come back, youngsters!" Walrod waved his hand at them, and the door gradually closed by itself.

When they were sure the door was fully closed, they turned their backs and started walking towards Clover Town once more.

"Magic Council…" Meredy said softly to herself, with a downcast look all over her face.

Lyon noticed, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll figure something out."

* * *

**A/N:** And that's it for chapter 6! Thank you again for all the reviews, follows and favs! It really serves as a fuel for me to work faster. :D

Anyway, I just wanted to add this since I forgot to mention it in the last chapter. I don't think it was stated or showed in canon where Meredy's guild mark is (or if she even had one). I just assumed that it would be somewhere in her back, quite similar to Ultear since she's her adult figure after all.

Also, if there were any people wondering how Lyon knew Meredy at first, let's recall that chapter wherein Lamia Scale visited Fairy Tail after their seven-year absence. There was a scene where Lyon was asking Gray if the latter knew Ultear and Meredy. He also seemed like one who is more concerned of criminal/dark guild activities compared to the other guild members.

That's all, and like the other chapters, reviews are really appreciated! :3


	7. Chapter 7

The train from Clover station travelled at a moderate speed, allowing the passengers to view the beauty of the mountains, fields and river through the windows. It was around 3'o-clock in the afternoon, which provided just the right amount of light for the people to appreciate the scenery better.

Meredy glanced at the window, staring off the distance, and recalled how she ended up going to a place which she didn't even intend to go to in the first place.

_Neither of them said anything else as they walked back to Clover Town. Meredy was still bothered by the fact that the Magic Council would be coming over to Magnolia, increasing the chances of her being caught. She felt that she should avoid that as much as possible, at least until the information about Jellal had been passed on to Fairy Tail. Briefly, she looked over at her companion, who appeared to be in deep thought. In truth, she was grateful for everything that he has done for her in a short span of time, but she also felt guilty that the more he was involved with her affairs, the more he's putting himself at risk. _

_When they finally reached the town, Meredy chose to break the silence._

"_Now that we're here," she started saying, "I guess I should buy my own coat so we could finally go our separate ways." She looked over at the buildings and spotted a clothing store. "Oh, there's a shop! Wait here while I buy. I won't be long!" She began walking away when she felt someone tugging her arm._

"_Wait," Lyon remarked, loosening his grip on her arm. She noticed how serious he appeared. "There's no need to do that."_

_Meredy gave him a puzzled look, blinking several times. "Eh?"_

_The expression on his face remained unchanged. "Because you're coming back with me to Lamia Scale."_

Meredy's thoughts were interrupted when she heard footsteps coming closer. She turned her head and saw Lyon, who then sat across from her on the train's couch. He was holding some sort of flyer. He started speaking. "Apparently, this Fairy Tail festival is a three-day event. Today's the first day, so we should probably go there tomorrow."

She lowered her head, choosing to look at her lap instead of him. "Why?"

"Fairy Tail is probably very busy this first day since it's the kick-off of the event, after all." Lyon handed her the paper, which she automatically took from his hand. "They would've already adjusted by the second day, and I figured it'll be better if we inform them beforehand that we'll be coming over. I already sent a letter to Gray."

She gazed at the colourful paper before her, noticing the big text saying: '_Come and Join the Magical Festival of Fiore's Strongest Guild, FAIRY TAIL!' _The background had a beautiful drawing of Magnolia, with various colours of confetti drawn on the edge. She subconsciously gripped the paper tighter. "No, I mean, why are you doing this?"

Lyon leaned his trunk closer to her, holding his hands together. "Well," he paused, as if he didn't really know the answer to it, "I owe you for helping me out on the job. I'm not saying that I could not have done it by myself, but you made it easier."

"You do remember that I was the one who owed you since you saved my life in the first place," she countered. The paper on her hand was starting to crumple.

He chuckled. "Looks like you caught me." His laughter faded when he noticed that Meredy wasn't making any move. "Look, if I were in your shoes, I would just be thankful for the help I'm receiving, especially during the times when I really need it."

"But you won't understand!" She retorted back in a higher volume, causing some of the people around them to look at their spot. Meredy saw Lyon nodding his head at the passengers, as if telling them that everything's under control. The passengers resumed whatever it was they were doing. Meredy then continued, softly and more careful this time. "You won't understand, because I'm a wanted person, and you aren't. You should not be even helping me."

After making sure that no one else was hearing their conversation, he leaned his head closer to her. "You may be a wanted person," he whispered, not looking away from her, "but I don't think you're a bad person. If you ask me, there are lots of other people deserving to be in jail than you."

Eyes glassy, she finally looked at him in the eyes, but she couldn't say anything in response.

"You know, I've also done some things which I regret in my life." He shifted his eyes to his hands. "There was a time wherein I wanted to revive a demon for my own selfish reasons. Looking back, I didn't really think of the other consequences of that action since I was too much engulfed in hatred. Perhaps I was just lucky that the demon was apparently dead, and a bunch of good people gave me a chance to redeem myself."

Meredy noted the rueful tone of his voice, but still could not find herself to respond.

"All I'm saying is, I didn't know what I was doing back then, and thanks to the people who opened my eyes, I was able to live a better life." He turned his eyes towards her. "You're the same too, right? I know you were in Grimoire Heart as a kid, and I assume you didn't know what you were doing too. Why don't I give you a chance as well?"

Her eyes were starting to water with his words. Bringing one hand to her mouth, she could only utter, "Lyon…"

He added, "And I'm not saying that you should forget about your sins."

Meredy then thought that his words sounded familiar. _Ultear._

"In my own experience, those mistakes served as a reminder for me not to turn into that person again—a reminder that I should continue to live my life fully, and not to throw it away in hatred," the ice mage slowly said the next words, "In your case, I'm not entirely sure, but…"

She heard him pause, causing her to look at him curiously.

"…there's that look in your eyes," he pointed one finger towards her green orbs, which made her slightly move away. "I saw fear. I'm not sure of what, but basing from your decision earlier," he said, pertaining to her hesitance in walking through the big forest by herself, "I assume it has something to do with being alone."

Stunned that he could read her so well, she could only lightly nod, avoiding his gaze.

"I see," he nodded marginally, shutting his eyes, "you have friends in Fairy Tail, right? And later on, you'll meet the members of Lamia Scale." He opened his eyes, and saw that she still wasn't looking at him. "They're a weird bunch, but they're really nice once you get to know them," he then said the next statement with a smile, "So don't ever think that you're alone."

Meredy simply stared at him.

For a moment, Lyon tried to recall what he had said to check if he mentioned something wrong.

Meredy finally decided to say something, noticing that his smile was fading. She bowed her head. "Thank you."

"Eh?" Lyon gave her a puzzled look, blinking several times.

"I know we've only known each other for a short while, but," she raised her head. Teardrops were at the edge of her eyes, but she was smiling. "Thank you for being here too."

He didn't really expect that reaction from her, so he found himself blushing at the comment. He moved his trunk backwards, sat straight, crossed his arms and looked away from her. "Don't mention it."

"But will your guild master be okay with it?" she asked innocently, wiping the tears from her eyes.

_Oh shit,_ he thought. _Ooba Babasaama._ He suddenly imagined himself being spun around by the angry granny. He grimaced at the thought.

"Um, are you okay?" She waved her hands in front of him, a worried look on her face.

Lyon flinched as he got back to reality. "I'm fine." He coughed uneasily. "To be honest, I haven't thought of that. But I'll be able to handle it. Leave her to me."

Meredy stared at him for a few seconds and found herself muffling a giggle, which then erupted into laughter.

Lyon creased his brow. "What's so funny?"

Meredy covered her mouth for decency, still giggling. "It's nothing. You're really not the type to plan ahead, are you?" She laughed heartily again. "I guess you really are a reckless old man!"

Lyon huffed irritatingly. "Shut up, I'm not an old man!"

Meredy quietly noted that he didn't say anything to refute being reckless. She beamed happily at him.

On the other hand, while Lyon felt a tinge of annoyance at the girl before him, it was then when he realized that a genuine smile like that suited her the best. He felt that maybe, it was a pleasing sight that he would never get tired of seeing.

Meanwhile, in Magnolia, a rowdy crowd was heard in the streets. The program for the first day was over, and various members from Fairy Tail started cleaning the debris by the stage. The jollity of the place didn't diminish however since different stalls selling various merchandises as well as game stalls still remained by the streets.

"That's a wrap, guys! That was a great first day," Erza said proudly, as she used her Requip magic to change her dress into a sweeper's overalls. She proceeded to briskly sweep the floor with a broom, happily humming a tune.

"I agree, everyone did a great job," Mirajane added sweetly, smiling as she removed the decorations on the stage.

"It sucks that we have to do this cleaning job, though." Natsu slowly picked up the discarded confetti on the ground, clearly bored with what he was doing.

"What's the matter, Flame Brain?" Gray retorted in a cocky voice. He was also picking the confetti on the ground near the Fire Dragon Slayer, but instead of his bare hands, he was using an ice stick. "Can't handle such a simple job?"

"At least I have my clothes on, Ice Stripper!" A shriek was heard from Gray, and the next thing they knew, the two were battling on the stage.

"Here we go again," Lucy commented exasperatingly, scrubbing the table on the stage.

"Guys, don't destroy the stage!" Wendy squeaked, attempting to stop the fight between the two. "We still need the stage for tomorrow!" But a bucket somehow flew out of Natsu's and Gray's fight, hitting Wendy on the head, which then knocked her unconscious.

Somehow, the other members from Fairy Tail just got involved in the brawl.

"Only a man would not refuse a challenge such as this!" Elfman punched Natsu in the face, causing him to fly towards Erza. The broom that Erza was holding then flew its way towards Max, who was running away from the scene. In the end, the broom somehow ended shoved up in his rear.

Cana, who was passing by while holding lots of barrels of wine, accidentally tripped out of drunkenness, causing one of the barrels to hit Gray hard on the head. Juvia, who was watching the scene from afar, then crawled quickly towards Gray's limp body. "Gray-sama is still very handsome even if he is beaten up and unconscious!"

"Aye! What's happening here?" Happy asked to no one in particular, just flying back towards the stage. He was holding a fried fish on a stick. He hovered over towards another cat. "Would you like some, Charle?"

The female Exceed merely puffed in annoyance and crossed her arms, soaring away from the disappointed Happy.

Just then, amidst the ruckus, a dark beam from the sky hit an area somewhere far from the festival grounds, but still within Magnolia. A deafening sound was heard momentarily, but disappeared when the beam vanished as well. Not many people detected the sound, as they were too preoccupied with the merriment (and riot) of the festival grounds.

"Did anybody hear that?" Lucy asked, bothered with what she heard. She pushed back her blonde hair behind her ear, as if attempting to hear whatever she heard even better. She then realized that nobody was listening to what she was saying as the scuffle further intensified, causing the stage to break and fall down.

It was another normal day for Fairy Tail.

In another place in Fiore, a similar dark beam emerged, which emitted an ear-splitting sound, but rapidly dissipated into thin air. The common townsfolk quickly dismissed it as lightning striking the ground. It was not unheard inside the building of the strongest guild of that town, Lamia Scale.

Inside the guild house, a certain girl with dark pink hair tripped on her foot. "Kyaaah~! That hurts!"

"That's what you get for constantly walking around, Chelia!" Another mage who resembled a canine screamed angrily at the girl, causing her to cover her ears defensively.

"Waaah! Sorry, Toby!" the girl Chelia cried back. She ruffled her pigtails with uneasiness. "I just can't help myself! Why isn't Lyon back yet?"

A guy with extremely bushy eyebrows approached the two of them. "Quiet, guys, did you hear that noise?"

"Whaaat?" The dog ears on Toby's head then wiggled. "I didn't hear anything! Are you sure, Yuka?"

Yuka scratched one of his large eyebrows. "I'm sure I did."

"I heard it too," a woman with hair colour similar to Chelia interjected, "but maybe it's just lightning."

"Sherrrrryyy~!" Chelia hugged the said person, greatly clinging on to her waist. "Where is Lyon? I thought the job he took was pretty easy? Shouldn't he be back by now?"

"I'm sure Lyon's fine," a tall man with a bald head and long beard said, approaching their group. "He's a strong mage, Chelia. Just believe in him."

"But Jura-san," the girl said back, a worried look remaining on her face.

"Also," Jura uttered, turning his head to Yuka and Sherry, "I heard the noise too. I'm going to check it out."

The group nodded, and the bald wizard saint headed towards the exit of the guild house.

"I'm going to watch Lyon by the window! That's what soul mates do, right?" Chelia exclaimed, sparkles coming out of her eyes.

Sherry clapped her hands together, slightly tilting her head sideways. "That's my cousin!" she said proudly, gazing at the younger girl.

"Is that even something to be proud of?!" Yuka annoyingly asked. No one answered him.

On her way to the window, Chelia tripped on her foot again.

A fuming "Ooooooon!" was heard, followed by the mention of the name of the girl who tripped.

It was another normal day for Lamia Scale.

* * *

**A/N: **A relatively short chapter this time! The other characters are finally introduced, and it was pretty fun writing them. I'll try to update as soon as I can. And after doing some research, I realized that Walrod was more used than Warrod, so I edited his name in the previous chapter. Thank you for pointing that out, princessforeveralone! Again, thank you all the reviews so far, everyone! I also appreciate the people who view the story. You know who you are. :3


	8. Chapter 8

The sun was already disappearing beneath the horizon, and the sky was gradually becoming darker. A certain Sky God Slayer was resting her head on the window pane, mix of worry and disappointment in her eyes when she was unable to see any signs of anyone with spiky silver hair walking towards their guild house.

"It's already getting dark outside, give it a rest already, Chelia," Yuka remarked, as he removed his green hat to scratch his head. He was sitting on one of the benches together with Sherry and Toby.

"That's what I told her earlier, right?!" Toby shouted angrily, which earned him a "calm down" from his thick-eyebrowed friend. The latter was ignored however, as the canine-like mage continued complaining, banging his fists on the table. "Oooon! And I'm getting hungry too!"

Yuka rolled his eyes. "Then eat," he said, as if it was the most obvious thing to do in the world.

"He usually does things fast, though. It's very much unlike him to be this late," Sherry commented, and she suddenly stood up, remembering something. "Oh! It _is_ late! I have to go home now!"

"What's the rush?" Yuka asked her.

Sherry appeared to ignore the anti-Mage, though, since she was too busy eagerly fixing her bag, much to his dismay. Her younger cousin answered for her instead.

"She's going to talk with her fiancé." Chelia finally walked away from the window, opting to sit with her teammates. She released a heavy sigh, clasping her hands together and looking dreamy. "They do it every night. Their 'love' is truly great."

The dreamy look did not escape from the girl's face as she leaned her arms on the table and rested her head on them. Yuka assumed that she was imagining romantic scenarios, as usual.

Sherry quickly bid her farewell and said something along the lines of leaving the apartment door open for Chelia or something. Her cousin didn't seem to hear her, causing Yuka and Toby to sweatdrop.

"This takes you back, doesn't it?" Toby said, in an unusual calm manner, causing Yuka to look at him curiously. "Years ago, wasn't it Sherry who was head over heels for Lyon?"

Yuka stifled a laugh. "Yeah, if things hadn't changed, it's probably Sherry who's waiting for him by the window."

"You think so?" Toby asked incredulously. "It has already been seven years; you think Lyon would be able to tolerate having her like that?"

"Stupid, I was kidding, you know." Yuka played with his hat, twirling the edge of its white sections. "Lyon is pretty choosy when it comes to girls. I think he's the type not to get the hopes up of girls he isn't interested in, which is why Sherry stopped and moved on to that Blue Pegasus guy. It's pretty much the same for his own feelings; when he thinks his own aren't getting anywhere for a girl he actually likes, he stops. Remember when he stopped pursuing that Juvia girl from Fairy Tail?"

"Wow, I never thought of that," Toby said, amazed at his friend. "You're really smart, Yuka!"

"Of course I am," the anti-Mage responded proudly. Their conversation was interrupted with the opening of the doors of the building.

"Jura-san!" Toby exclaimed, standing up from his chair.

Yuka jumped out of his seat and rushed towards the wizard saint. "You're back! What did you find?"

"That isn't important at the moment," Jura remarked, sidestepping, "I stumbled upon them."

Chelia quickly snapped back to reality when she saw a familiar figure who she was expecting to see earlier. She excitedly skipped towards their direction. "Lyon! You're okay!" But she accidentally slipped, falling face first on the floor. "Ow!"

They could only watch her, as it was a normal occurrence for the girl.

"Silly Chelia." Lyon placed a palm on his face, shaking his head. "Of course I'm okay."

"Wait," Yuka suddenly commented, glancing at the people in front of them, "what do you mean by 'them?'"

Just then, another figure behind Jura emerged, slowly walking her way beside Lyon. She tucked some of her light pink hair behind her earmuffs. "Um, hi," she uttered quite shyly, her head lowered.

"Who's that?!" Toby questioned, pointing directly at the woman who recently arrived.

"Yeah, who is she?" Chelia likewise asked, eyeing her suspiciously. Why was she standing close to Lyon? And… why was she wearing Lyon's mantle?!

Not minding the apparent anger displayed by the Sky God Slayer, Lyon shifted his weight uncomfortably, not really knowing how to answer it. "She's…"

Jura noted that they were getting too much unwanted attention from their other guild mates. Thinking quickly, he purposely said in a louder voice, "She's a client. She wanted to ask our help directly." Jura felt relieved when the others shifted back to what they were doing. He motioned his teammates to come closer. "We'll speak about this more privately. Let's go to one of the meeting rooms."

All nodded simultaneously and headed towards one of the private rooms. Lyon observed his other guild mates and was thankful that they didn't seem to bother themselves in knowing the identity of their 'client.'

When the doors were closed and everyone sat on their respective chairs around the wooden table, Lyon attempted to explain the real situation.

"Actually, she's not really a client," Lyon said straight-to-the-point, motioning his hand to the girl beside him. "She's Meredy of Crime Sorcière. I'm sure you've heard of that guild."

"It's that independent guild that defeats dark guilds right?" Yuka said directly, crossing his legs.

Toby bent his trunk forward, slamming his hands on the table. "Really? That's cool!"

Chelia still watched her questionably, not taking her eyes away from her. Meredy noticed and she looked away.

"But there's more, though," Yuka added sternly, arms crossed. "The only catch is, they're criminals, correct?"

"What?!" Toby and Chelia exclaimed at the same time. Lyon saw Meredy flinching uncomfortably, making him bite his lip ruefully.

"Please do not judge her so quickly," Jura intercepted, "Lyon has explained to me her current situation. I have met one of her companions before," he said, recalling the incident where Jellal Fernandes helped them in defeating Oracion Seis, which even led them to fight against the Magic Council to prevent the ex-councillor from going to prison. "I'm sure they have changed from their old ways."

Lyon nodded to him in agreement and said, "She isn't a bad person."

Meredy silently thanked them.

"I don't have any reason not to believe you, Lyon and Jura-san," the anti-Mage remarked, "However, don't you think it's dangerous for the guild to be associated with someone like her? I mean, she is a wanted person…"

Just before they could say anything in response, the door suddenly opened, revealing an elderly woman who definitely did not look amused. "And who is this wanted person you are talking about?!"

"Babasaama!" Team Lamia Scale exclaimed and stood up, showing their respects to their guild master. Meredy rose from her seat too, and awkwardly bowed.

"Now what was that I heard earlier?! Would anyone tell me what is going on here?" Ooba pointed at Toby, and began circling her hand, causing the canine-like mage to spin around.

"Why meee?" Toby helplessly uttered, feeling dizzy as the granny continued whirling him.

Ooba eyed the unfamiliar female mage. "Who is she? She's not from Lamia Scale."

Meredy gulped, looking at the ground.

Lyon glanced at the girl beside him and saw her discomfort. He suddenly remembered what he had told her earlier. "Babasaama, I'll explain."

Ooba eyed the girl closely. "I have read the reports. I think I know who she is." The elderly woman remained displeased. "She shouldn't be freely roaming around here. You, Lyon, of all people, should know that."

Lyon appeared to ignore what his guild master said. "She needs our help."

"I don't care about that," she replied harshly, her golden bangles producing a sound as she placed her hands on her waist, "We need to protect the best interests of the guild."

"Just this once, please. Allow me to help her." Lyon knelt down on one leg, lowering his head. "I will take full responsibility, but rest assured, I won't do anything reckless to stain the name of the guild." He lifted his head, facing his guild master this time. "So please, reconsider."

The rest of the people in the room were shocked with what they were witnessing, especially Yuka and Toby, considering they were watching how their once-arrogant teammate was now showing a semblance of humility. Jura tried to suppress a proud smile, while Chelia thought that the scene was similar to one of the romance novels she had read, where the male protagonist was asking the hand of her lady from her strict parents. Meredy lifted a hand to her mouth, shocked and thankful at the same time, seeing that he kept his word.

The guild master saw how he knelt unyielding, with determination flashing in his eyes. "Stand up, Lyon."

The ice mage did as he was told.

The granny continued speaking, "What does she need anyway?"

"We just need to escort her to Fairy Tail."

"Why?" Ooba crossed her arms.

Lyon tried to explain patiently. "She just needs to remain unnoticed because the Magic Council is at Magnolia. She needs to deliver an important message to Fairy Tail."

"Hmm?" The old woman tapped a finger to her chin. "Why Fairy Tail?"

Lyon was unable to answer, so he looked at Meredy. The Maguilty mage began to speak, "Um, you see—"

"On the second thought, don't answer. I don't need to know." Ooba began walking away, her back facing the people in the room. Upon touching the door knob, she spoke, "Fine. Just this once." She flipped her red cape and turned her head towards the ice mage. "I trust in you, Lyon, but don't you ever screw up, or else!" She spun Toby more violently this time, causing him to dig a hole on the wooden floor. A feeble whimper was heard from the tornado-turned mage.

"Of course, you have my word, Babasaama." Lyon politely bowed one last time before she left the room completely.

Yuka noticed that nobody spoke immediately, so he did. "So, what's the plan?"

"Before anything else, I do believe it's proper to have introductions first." Jura reached a hand towards Meredy, which she gradually accepted. "I'm Jura."

Yuka approached her as well. "Well, I don't really think you are a bad person. I'm Yuka. People know me as 'Yuka the Wave!'"

A figure crawled from the ground, similar to a dog. Meredy lightly squeaked. "Toby's my name. I'd let you see my new sock once I find it." Meredy wanted to point out that there was actually a sock dangling around his neck, but for some reason decided against it.

Lyon noticed one person who hadn't moved from her spot. "Chelia?"

The said girl snapped from her musings, slowly walking her way towards the others. Hesitantly, the Sky God Slayer stretched an arm towards the woman in front of her, which the latter accepted despite the former avoiding eye contact. "I'm Chelia."

She gladly accepted everyone's introductions, smiling blithely at them. "It's nice to meet you all. I'm Meredy."

Lyon smiled too, glad that everything was going well at that moment. "Now that everybody knows who each other are, I'd like to briefly tell the plan. We'll be heading to Magnolia tomorrow for the Fairy Tail Festival. From there, I'll meet up with Gray so she can talk to him and his other guild mates. Of course, I'm not forcing you guys to tag along, but if you want to, you're free to come with us."

"I'm quite short of funds at the moment," Yuka said, scratching his head uncomfortably, "I actually plan on taking a job with Toby tomorrow morning."

"Well, why don't we go to Magnolia after the job? Let's finish it quickly so we could catch up! Fairy Tail festivals are really pretty," Toby exclaimed, grinning excitedly.

"Alright, then, I don't see why we couldn't." Yuka crossed his arms, chuckling.

"I'd really like to accompany you, but I have things to settle in the morning," Jura stated with a dismal tone, but smiled as he voiced the next statement. "But I'll catch up too once it's done."

Chelia's pigtails sprang up. _"Then, that means they'll be alone!"_ She watched Meredy and Lyon with an envious glint in her eyes. _"I can't let that happen!"_

"Chelia? Are you okay…?" Lyon inquired, uncertain why she had that look on her face.

"I'll go with you!" The Sky God Slayer suddenly blurted out, surprising the ice mage. "Besides, I want to see Wendy, too!"

"_You don't really need to shout_," Lyon thought, frowning inwardly. He briefly glanced at his pocket watch before saying, "It's getting late. We should all head home to rest. Guess we'll see each other tomorrow."

The team nodded and headed out, including Meredy.

"Wait," Lyon said, turning to Meredy. "Where will you be staying?"

"Me?" She pointed to herself. She took out her pouch bag, counting the jewels inside, "Don't worry, I could just stay at an inn…" Her voice gradually faded when she realized that she barely had 5,000 jewels, which she knew wasn't enough considering the normal rates of usual inns. She pouted slightly, troubled; Jellal was the one who handled their finances.

Lyon noticed her predicament. "You can stay at Chelia's."

"Whaaat?!" Chelia complained loudly. Why does her love rival have to stay with her, of all people?

"Is there a problem?" Lyon asked, raising his eyebrow at the girl.

"Errm," Chelia quickly thought of an excuse, "You see, Sherry might not agree! I don't think she likes sudden guests!"

Lyon crossed his arms over his chest, not really convinced with what she was saying. Nevertheless, he was left with no other choice. He turned towards Meredy. "You can stay at my place, then. I'll sleep in the couch."

"_Wait, wait, wait! What was happening? Why did it turn out like this?"_ Chelia was having an internal struggle. "_They can't stay together, not when they're alone! But what could I do?"_

Meredy waved her hands in front of Lyon. "No, wait, I'll sleep in the couch. I'm already intruding, after all."

"WAIIIT!" screamed Chelia, earning her the looks of everyone inside the guild. Suddenly realizing that she caused a commotion, she weakly uttered, "Sorry..!"

Lyon was getting confused, scratching his face annoyingly. "What now?"

"M-maybe I could let her borrow jewels!" She then realized that she left her wallet in their apartment. "Or, or, she could stay at our place, maybe! But, Sherry is—, I don't really know, but!—"

"But what? For crying out loud, Chelia, make up your mind." Lyon was already frustrated.

"Fine!" The girl clasped her fists tight. "She can stay at our place!"

"What about Sherry?"

"Leave her to me! I'll explain!" The Sky God Slayer grabbed Meredy's hand, pulling her away from Lyon. _"If this is what it takes so that they won't be together, then be it!"_

Meredy tried to pull her hand away but the girl's grip was strong. She awkwardly waved her free hand at Lyon as they continued walking further away. "S-see you tomorrow. Thanks again!"

Lyon smirked at what he was seeing, as he raised a hand to wave back.

"So, Lyon," Toby whispered behind the ice mage's ear, wagging his eyebrows suggestively. "Are you seeing this Meredy chick?"

"Remember what Lyon said earlier too?" Yuka added, whispering at his other ear. He placed a hand on his chin, nodding cheekily. "She isn't _bad_." The two sniggered.

A vein popped on Lyon's forehead. "Shut it, guys," he snapped annoyingly, walking away.

The duo continued laughing. They didn't see the look on his face, but they were sure that his face turned red. They were also about to walk away when they realized that their feet were stuck frozen on the floor.

"Hey Lyon!" The two attempted to move frantically, but it was futile. "Let us out of here!"

Lyon snorted, ignoring his teammates' pleas. Yup, he definitely missed them.

Meanwhile, the two girls arrived at the apartment door. Chelia turned the door knob and it opened instantly.

"Sherry, I'm home!" the girl exclaimed, but nobody answered her back. The living room was empty, but the faint chattering of a female voice was heard emanating from another room.

"You live with your sister?" asked Meredy, who was removing her boots as she entered.

"No, she's my older cousin, actually," Chelia answered back, with a hint of spite in her voice. In truth, she still wasn't amused that her rival was staying over.

Meredy noticed the unfriendliness, but she tried to understand. After all, she should be thankful to them for allowing her to stay. "I see. It must be nice to be with your family," she said, ending her statement with a pleasant smile.

Chelia found herself crinkling her brow. _"What's with her? And why is she smiling like that? It makes it hard for me to hate heeeeer!"_ The God Slayer unknowingly walked in small circles, confusing Meredy.

"Hey, are you okay…?" Meredy softly said, touching the girl on her shoulder, which then halted the latter's movement.

"You!" The girl directed a finger towards Meredy. "What's your relationship with Lyon?"

"Eh?" Meredy's eyelids flickered many times.

"I'm serious!" The girl barked back, frowning at the older girl before her. "So what is it?"

Meredy noted that Chelia was indeed serious, observing the flushed cheeks of the girl. "Lyon is only a friend. Or acquaintance, actually, since we haven't known each other that long." She displayed another smile. "Does that answer your question?"

Chelia's jaw dropped in shock. She eyed the blue mantle (which she knew belonged to Lyon) draped over her shoulder. "So you aren't his girlfriend?"

Meredy flexed her neck sideways. She was getting tired of hearing it. It was the second time that day that people assumed that she had a relationship like that with the ice mage. "No, I'm not."

A wash of relief was seen in the girl's face upon hearing it, but before she could say anything else, another female voice was heard. "Chelia?"

Meredy turned her head and saw another woman who looked like an older version of the little girl next to her. "Um, good evening," the Maguilty mage greeted, bowing down.

"Oh, Sherry!" The Sky God Slayer ran across Meredy and stood between her and her cousin. "This is Meredy. She's a guest for tonight. Lyon's acquaintance."

With a serious facial expression, Sherry observed Meredy from top to bottom, making the latter uncomfortable. To Meredy's surprise, the woman suddenly flashed a big smile at her.

"I see, nice to meet you! I'm Sherry." She stretched her hand and shook Meredy's hand. "You look like a mess. Don't you have other clothes?" She pointed at her red dress, which was smudged with lots of dirt.

Meredy weakly shook her head, to which Sherry immediately beamed.

"You can borrow some of my clothes, then! I think they'll suit you!" Sherry said, and then grabbed a handful of Meredy's hair, surprising the latter. "We both have pink hair, you see? Yours is a shade lighter, but all of the clothes I bought are chosen specifically to suit the color pink!"

Meredy could only smile at her. They _are_ a weird bunch, she thought. "Thank you, I'd appreciate that."

"You should clean yourself up first, though! The bathroom is over here." Sherry pointed at a room beside them. "But before that, I'll grab you some blankets. The two of you should head to the dining area though, the food's already prepared!" Sherry skipped away, humming a happy tune.

"Sherry's in an awfully good mood. I guess she had a pretty good conversation with Ren." She released a sigh, and then had a dreamy look on her face. "They're really the ideal couple~!"

Meredy stifled a chuckle at the look on the girl's face. "Who's Ren?"

"Ren is Sherry's fiancé. The guy is from Blue Pegasus," she murmured with the same dreamy look.

"I see." If memory served her correct, that man was one of the Trimens of Blue Pegasus.

Chelia snapped out of her daydream. "Let's go to the dining table, then?" she said, to which the other girl nodded.

When Sherry finally arrived at the dining area, they started eating dinner. They had a casual conversation as they ate, though it was more of Sherry doing all the talking about her fiancé and Chelia agreeing that her cousin indeed has skyrocketing levels of love. Meredy only found herself nodding and laughing along with them. She also felt better seeing that Chelia was being more open to her compared to when they first met.

After dinner, she proceeded to the bathroom to find a simple pink sleeveless dress with black trimmings hanging on the towel rack. It had a note on it.

"_This will be cute on you! _

_P.S. Not as cute as it was on me, though! _

–_Sherry"_

Meredy chuckled a bit, shaking her head.

She stepped into the shower and started cleansing her body with the water. As the water dripped down to the drainage, she also felt that whatever worries she had were washed away. For a while, when she was eating dinner with the two cousins, she remembered a semblance of what it felt to have a family. Even if it's just for a while, she felt thankful that she really wasn't alone, even without the presence of Ultear and Jellal.

When she finished showering, she went to the mirror and gathered her hair to one side; she then twisted her trunk to see her back clearly. On the reflection, she saw the emblem of Crime Sorcière, which she attempted to touch with one hand, making it seem like she was hugging herself. In a twisted sort of way, it appeared funny; what she was seeing on the mirror was the embodiment of Crime Sorcière at that very moment. Being the only one left standing, somehow, the mark served as a reminder for her that she was tied with the responsibility of fulfilling the purposes of the guild.

_But what was the purpose of the guild?_ She found herself asking. _To defeat dark guilds, right?_

In the mirror, she saw the reflection of Ultear, who spoke_. True, we defeat dark guilds—that's what we tasked amongst ourselves_. _But why do we do it?_

_Because we know it's a way of repenting for the sins that we have done, _Meredy said back. _But what if I don't have the enough power to defeat dark guilds anymore?_ _Is there another way of repenting for our sins? How do I gauge if what I had done is already enough to be forgiven?_

She still had a lot of questions.

But the image of Ultear only smiled and said nothing, and gradually faded, until all she could see was the reflection of herself.

Meredy moved away from the mirror and dressed. After folding her used clothing, she turned the door knob to see that all the lights were turned off, with only the lights of the bathroom illuminating the place. She assumed that the cousins were already sleeping in their rooms.

She walked her way towards the couch and lied down, taking the blanket prepared for her by Sherry.

With the darkness of the night, all she could remember were the several unanswered questions that lingered in her mind.

"Why did you have to go so soon, Ur?" she whispered, as she began sobbing quietly. At that moment, she felt that her previous thoughts of being with others were just superficial, and that deep down, she was still truly alone.

* * *

**A/N:** And that's it for Chapter 8! Writing this chapter made me realize that it's fun and difficult at the same time to write different characters with all the feelings, personalities and dialogue. Thank you for reading! Next chapter is finally the Fairy Tail Festival, with more characters joining the story. Also, reviews make an author happy! (Aye!)


	9. Chapter 9

Meredy was the first to wake up, opening her eyes when she felt the rays of the sun hitting her face through the window. Her eyes felt tired, as she realized that she had cried herself to sleep the night before. Slowly moving to the bathroom, she then washed her face and avoided looking at the mirror, afraid it could trigger another gush of questions in her mind.

She immediately sat back on the couch in silence, appreciating the calmness of the dawn as she closed her eyes. Clearly, she could hear the singing of the morning birds, the swaying of the trees from the early breeze, as well as the buzzing of the bees from the hive hanging under a branch, as if she herself was standing outside. It was a gift, but it was something she could only do when she was alone or when she was assured that silence overpowered noise, or else she might take in more than she was able to handle. She heaved a sigh, and donned her earmuffs.

In front of the couch she was sitting on, a small table stood, with an elegant flower vase on the middle. Beside it was a purple pocket book which was placed face down. Curious, she reached for the book and browsed a few pages.

"_A love story_," she thought, as she scanned through the pages. For a while, she found herself engrossed with the contents of the book, going page by page to see what was going to happen next.

"That's one of my favourite stories," a voice from behind said.

Meredy turned around to see smiling Chelia in her nightclothes, with the latter still scratching her eyes.

"Oh, good morning! I hope you don't mind me reading this."

"No, of course not. Feel free to read!" Chelia exclaimed, her voice glad but notably groggy. The girl walked from her spot to sit beside her. "Do you like romance novels too?"

Meredy chuckled, turning her head to the younger girl beside her. "Well, I can't really say that I do. This is the first romantic story I've ever read, after all."

When Chelia gave her a disbelieving look, Meredy opted to explain.

"Throughout my life all I've read are books that have something to do with magic. My previous master said that books like these are a waste of time," Meredy shared, recalling a time where Hades reprimanded her when he caught her taking out a "useless book" and not studying about lost magic instead.

"Really?" A look of shock appeared on Chelia's face, and when Meredy nodded in response, she could only give her a sad look. "I see…"

"Don't be too sad about that, though!" Meredy grinned at her. "It's in the past, right?"

Chelia gave a weak smile in response. Then, she briefly recalled something that Meredy said the previous night.

"_I see. It must be nice to be with your family._"

The look on Meredy's face at the moment was similar to when she said it last night. It looked like she was concealing something, and it made Chelia sad, somehow. "I guess so."

When Meredy only smiled in response, Chelia took it as a cue to go.

"Well, you just go on reading that. If you don't mind, I'll just freshen up in the bathroom," the Sky God Slayer said as she stood up.

"Of course, go ahead!" Meredy replied, which made the younger girl finally walk away towards the bathroom.

Soon, Sherry woke up too and prepared breakfast for them. Meredy assisted her, which the latter accepted, grateful that she had someone to talk to about Ren again. Similar to the previous night, Meredy only nodded and laughed along her stories. The three of them ate together, with the same love topic that Meredy thought they never seemed to get tired of. They also helped each other in washing the dishes, and afterwards, the Maguilty mage sat on the couch to continue reading the book.

A few minutes later, a knock was heard from the main apartment door.

"Chelia, open the door!" Sherry shouted from the bathroom.

"I'm still fixing my hair!" the younger mage yelled back, still in her room.

Meredy laughed a bit, hearing their exchange. "I'll get it," she offered, as she opened the door marginally to check who it was. It was Lyon.

"Good morning," the ice mage greeted casually, to which Meredy greeted him back, opening the door wider.

"Who is it?" Sherry voiced, still scrubbing her hair.

"It's me," Lyon answered back in a louder voice, as he began removing his shoes.

"Lyon?!" Chelia exclaimed in full volume, followed by a screech due to something, or someone falling on the floor. "Kyaah~!"

Lyon ignored the familiar outburst and proceeded to sit on the couch, while Meredy followed him, sitting on the empty spot beside him.

"How are you?" he said, trying to start a conversation. "Did you sleep well?"

"I'm fine," she replied, giving him a smile, "And yes, I slept well last night."

Lyon clearly saw through her lie, though, noticing how swollen her eyes were, but chose to say nothing on the matter. He began rummaging through his bag, and Meredy slightly turned her head in an attempt to see what he was looking for.

"Tie your hair into a bun or something," Lyon instructed, still searching, which she followed immediately.

The next thing she knew, Lyon was holding a black bonnet in front of her.

"Your ear mufflers?" He said, pointing to his ear, asking her whether she wanted to remove it or not.

"No, I'll leave them on," she replied, to which Lyon only shrugged. He placed the bonnet on her head, over the earmuffs, making only the pink fringes framing her face visible while covering the rest of her hair.

"What is happening here?!" Chelia exclaimed questioningly, arriving just in time to witness him crowning Meredy with a bonnet. The scenario looked too intimate for her liking!

Lyon merely lifted an eyebrow. "She needs to be unnoticed. I felt that there's a need for her to have a disguise."

Chelia disregarded what he said and stomped her way beside Meredy, looking betrayed. The Maguilty mage only appeared baffled, mouthing to her, "_it's not what you think!_" to which the younger girl only "hmpf"-ed in response.

The door to the bathroom opened, and out came Sherry, who was wearing a black sundress. She was still drying her hair with a towel. "Oh, looks like everyone's here!" Her face wrinkled upon seeing Meredy. "What's with the ugly bonnet, though?"

Lyon looked slightly offended. "It's a disguise."

Sherry didn't look amused. "Still ugly, though."

"Um, I don't mind it!" Meredy interjected, trying to lighten the mood, but was squeaked when she turned to Chelia, who was glaring daggers at her.

"I'll try to search something to salvage her looks," Sherry said, waving her hand dismissively, "Wait here."

When Sherry finally left for her room, Chelia squeezed herself on the spot between Lyon and Meredy, causing the two to shift further away.

"There's another chair here," Lyon irritatingly remarked, pointing at the single sofa perpendicular to the couch.

Chelia ignored him, shifting her position more comfortably. She saw it as the opportunity to finally ask that about her. "So, Meredy, how's your family?"

Lyon was stunned. Knowing a gist of what happened to her mother-figure and how Meredy was greatly affected by it, he silently scolded the younger girl. "Chelia…!"

A look of confusion flashed on Chelia's face upon hearing Lyon's tone, but she felt herself turning pale when Meredy simply replied with a smile, "They're dead."

In all honesty, the Sky God Slayer didn't really mean any harm when she asked it. Well, she wanted to know something about her which she may use to tease her or something, but she didn't anticipate that type of answer from her. Whatever hatred or betrayal she felt towards the older girl in front of her were replaced with regret, and seeing the sad smile on Meredy's face, she even felt guiltier.

"_I see. It must be nice to be with your family._" The statement echoed in Chelia's mind. Her shoulders were shaking, and she refused to look at Meredy out of shame. "I'm sorry, I didn't know..."

Meredy placed a hand gently on the younger mage's shoulder. "Don't be. It's fine, really." When the Sky God Slayer lifted her head, showing her tearful eyes, Meredy gave her a smile. "Don't cry, I'm really okay on my own."

But Lyon saw through her again. She was lying, but he knew she was just trying to be strong, at least for the younger girl.

"You know, we should conceal the colour of her eyes too!" A voice unexpectedly said, entering the room, and then paused when the heavy atmosphere was felt at that moment. "I—erm, am I interrupting something?"

Lyon and Meredy turned their heads to see Sherry, who was holding several items. Chelia was unmoving, still opting to lower her head.

"No, you aren't," the Maguilty mage replied nonchalantly, trying to make the situation lighter by changing the topic. "What did you say? Sorry we didn't hear you well."

Sherry simply raised an eyebrow at her cousin, who wasn't looking at her, not really noticing the miserable look on the latter's face. "Well, as I was saying, we should conceal the colour of your eyes too," she remarked, bringing up a pair of blue tinted glasses with round frames. "Plus, you could cover your face a bit without being too suspicious with this!" She brought out a woven grey scarf, swaying it around excitedly.

"Seems like you really put some effort into thinking this," Lyon remarked, smirking.

"Of course!" Sherry proudly said, placing a hand to her chest. "Now, come here, Meredy!" The girl conformed and allowed the much older female mage to fix her up.

Lyon watched them from the sides. Looking at Sherry, he was glad that she finally realized that he had no romantic feelings whatsoever for her through the years. Though he was indeed flattered that someone felt for him that way, he wasn't really a fan of unhealthy relationships such as that. He'd much prefer that they could have a normal conversation such as this without her getting carried away with unreciprocated emotions. He probably had to thank that Ren Akatsuki guy, though. "_Annoying Blue Pegasus punks_," he snorted.

"Wait! There's something missing!" Sherry said suddenly, grabbing Meredy's hand immediately as they ran towards another room, giving her no time to complain. Lyon was left alone in the living room with Chelia, who still wasn't moving.

The younger mage felt a hand resting on her head.

"Don't think about it much," Lyon started saying, "I guess it was just a simple question said at a wrong time. I'm sure you didn't really mean any harm." He saw her biting her lip and then turned her head away from him. He just stifled a chuckle. "Just apologize later," he said, messing the top of her hair with his hand.

"Hey, stop that," she spoke finally, face appearing flushed. She attempted to stop his hand from making any further mess. "It took me a while to fix my hair!"

Lyon let out a laugh, and Chelia tried suppressing hers, but found herself laughing along in the end. The merriment was interrupted when both of them heard a voice.

"Chelia! Come here!" yelled Sherry from her room, which made the younger mage turn to Lyon. She gave him a worried look.

"It'll be fine," he assured her, and then waved a hand, "Just go, so we can leave as soon as possible."

The Sky God Slayer appeared hesitant at first, but nodded. Hearing another annoyed "_CHELIA_!" from the other room, the said girl immediately jumped from her seat and frolicked away. "I-I'm coming!"

"Girls," he said, shaking his head. Only the gods of Earthland could say what the blazes they were doing in that room at that moment, but then again, he thought that he'll found out soon anyway. He was actually pretty assured that everything would go smoothly as they go to Magnolia. Since Meredy would be with them when they go to the festival, it would make her less suspicious, and if ever they were questioned who she was, they could say that she was Chelia's distant cousin. They both have pink hair too, right? Lyon thought that the reasoning was flawless, as he smirked confidently.

The smirk then collapsed into a frown, as he remembered that Chelia still had an issue with Meredy. He sighed. It has to be resolved soon, he thought.

"So, Lyon, what can you say?" he heard Sherry's voice from behind.

Turning around, he saw the three girls, but he focused his attention on the one in the middle—Meredy. Well, she definitely looked better compared to being just bonnet-clad. She was wearing a black cardigan over her rose-coloured dress with a high slit, showing her black stockings, and she had the grey scarf around her neck. Her pink fringes were also styled better, framing her face more, and it appeared that she had some make up on; the eye liner was the give-away.

For some reason, she reminded him of Juvia—well, a pink-themed Juvia. He didn't know what that was supposed to imply, if anything, but he convinced himself that it was just probably the conservative, winter get-up which the water mage seemed to like.

"Wear the glasses!" Sherry instructed, and the girl immediately obeyed, donning the blue-tinted glasses. "So, is it good?"

Well, she didn't remind him of Juvia that much now. She just looks like a sophisticated winter fashionista. "She doesn't look like the brat I first met, so I guess that's good?"

Brat? Meredy gave him an unamused look, but she chose to ignore the statement, stating what's on her mind instead. "I don't feel like myself too, so the disguise is effective, I guess?"

"Good. Let's get going, then." The ice mage stood up from the couch. "Are you coming with us, Sherry?"

"No, I have some other plans today," she stated with an affectionate look on her face, holding one side of her face.

Lyon assumed it had something to do with the Blue Pegasus guy.

"I guess this is farewell, then." Meredy faced the woman older than her. "Thank you for everything."

"Of course, it was nice meeting you," Sherry gave her a girly grin. "Maybe we'll see each other again soon."

"Yeah, maybe we will," Meredy replied weakly, smiling back.

The three proceeded to step out of the apartment, waving goodbye at Doll Magic mage. When they were about a distance away from the apartment, Lyon started feeling awkward atmosphere. No one was speaking, and a tense feeling lingered. The walk towards the train station was basically uneventful and rather uncomfortable at the same time.

When they reached the station, several people were already there, waiting for the first train. It was also then when Lyon found an opportunity to have them talk. "I'll buy the tickets. Wait for me here, the two of you," he quickly said. He saw the complaining look on Chelia's face, but he didn't give her a chance to respond since he immediately ran towards a faraway booth, efficiently evading the people on his way. She was left with Meredy.

"_Lyooooon_!" she whined in her mind, stomping one leg on the ground. She may like him, but that didn't mean that he could get away with whatever he wanted! She wasn't ready for this yet!

"The weather is nice today, isn't it," Meredy said casually, as if nothing really bothered her mind, unlike the Sky God Slayer.

Anxious, Chelia looked at her at the corner of her eye, and saw that the older mage wasn't exactly facing her; she was instead looking at the sky with a peaceful smile on her face. Chelia was not able to say anything at that moment, as she found herself wondering, is she really a criminal? Because if she really was, Chelia found it hard to believe. To imagine someone like her in jail, it seemed very wrong.

"Is everything okay, Chelia?" Meredy gave her a worried look, which made the younger mage feel worse about herself.

Meredy had been nothing but nice to her, but there she was, being horrible to her...

"I'm fine," Chelia managed to tell her, even if it was evident that she was feeling otherwise.

The Maguilty mage felt even more worried, but at that moment, a train just came to a stop by the platform, signifying the first trip of that day. Meredy tried to look for Lyon from her spot, but didn't see him from afar. To make matters worse, a crowd of people started to march quickly towards their position, trying to enter the door of the train near their area. This led to them drowning into a sea of people, which bothered Meredy since some were being rude and were pushing her roughly. She managed to escape and push herself away from the crowd, but felt something was missing.

A familiar yelp was heard from time to time, and Meredy immediately dove back to the crowd, looking for a little girl. "Chelia!"

Chelia knew that she was a very capable mage, but she still had the disadvantage when it came to physical strength and size. At that very moment, she was helplessly being pushed from person to person, letting out a shriek of pain each time. She tried going against the flow, but everyone was just much bigger than she was.

Just then, a helping hand literally pulled her away from her spot and subsequently placed her between her arms and body, effectively shielding her from the hits and blows of the mob. Chelia couldn't see who her saviour was, though she already knew her identity. Slowly, both of them managed to pass through the crowd, as the number of people also diminished.

"Are you okay?" Meredy inquired, kneeling down to her level. "Sorry I wasn't able to get you immediately..."

Chelia suddenly tackled Meredy into a hug, surprising the latter. "No! I'm the one who should be sorry! I was horrible to you and you're being really nice and I was too insensitive about your family and I was a bit jealous and overprotective of Lyon but you weren't really doing anything but I'm just sorry!" She held the startled mage tighter, saying the next words softer this time, "I'm sorry..."

In truth, Meredy was still startled by her outburst. Chelia had been speaking too fast, but Meredy was able to remember a gist of what she said. She didn't realize how affected the girl was with the recent events. As she found herself hugging the younger mage back, the corners of her mouth lifted up to a smile. "Chelia..."

"I'm so sorry, Meredy," the Sky God Slayer repeated, still clinging onto her shoulder.

Meredy gently let go of her arms, holding out her hands onto Chelia's shoulders. "You know, someone lectured me about giving a chance to others," she said, recalling a certain silver-haired individual, "Why don't I just you a chance too?"

Chelia's eyes only twinkled in surprise, gaping at the girl before her.

"And that thing about Lyon; there's really nothing going on between us. To be honest, given the situation I'm in, I really can't afford to think that way. I don't really think that I have the time, nor am I deserving for a feeling such as love like those in the romantic novels..." The Maguilty mage grinned. "And don't you remember what I said earlier? I said I'm okay on my own. "

A shocked expression drew its ways to Chelia's face. "On your own? I don't believe you! Nobody can live on their own!" The girl stuck her arms in front, placing her tiny hands firmly on Meredy's shoulders. "I can be your little sister, if you want!"

It was then Meredy's turn to widen her eyes in surprise. Now that she thought about it, she had always been the youngest in the group-be it Grimoire Heart or Crime Sorciere. The idea was very foreign to her, but she didn't think it was too bad. She smiled, placing a hand on Chelia's head. "I'd appreciate that."

The Sky God Slayer, pleased with her answer, beamed a smile, hugging the older girl again.

"What's with all the cheesiness here?" A male voice asked innocently, seemingly unaware of the events that occurred.

The two turned around to see Lyon, holding three tickets in his hands.

"And what the hell happened to your hair, Chelia?" The ice mage sniggered, pointing at the younger mage's disheveled hair with unevenly-levelled pigtails.

Touching her head, Chelia turned red in embarrassment and frustration. "This is your fault, Lyon!" She pointed angrily at the ice mage. "What took you so long?!"

As Lyon saw Meredy chuckling at the scene before her, he could only laugh along in response to the furious girl. "At least, everything's okay now," he thought, as he tried to pry off the younger girl who was trying to maim him.

Several minutes later, meanwhile, in Magnolia, a newly-built stage was produced, and was then being checked on for possible defects by some chosen members of Fairy Tail.

"That was a relief." Wendy wiped a sweat off her forehead, looking at the stage before her. "Thankfully, we managed to finish this before our scheduled programs for the day."

"We could've finished it earlier if it weren't for those guys fighting again." Lucy eyed the two troublemakers, who were also the reason why the stage was destroyed in the first place. At the moment, the two were two tied together in a bent iron tube and were being lectured by Erza.

"We're friends right now, you see?" Natsu nervously tried to place an arm around Gray's shoulder, but failed since they were tied too tight.

"That's right! Will you please let us go now?" A similarly nervous Gray smiled at the scarlet-haired woman before them.

Erza watched them carefully at first, before saying, "Gajeel," which prompted the said dragon slayer to release the steel ropes binding the two.

Gajeel was definitely not amused that someone was ordering him around, but he knew better than to get to the bad side of Erza. He immediately left upon seeing a merchandise booth of metal utensils around the corner.

"Make sure to stay out of trouble, especially in this festival, or else..." Erza's eyes suddenly glinted with threat.

"Yes ma'am!" the two simultaneously said, scurrying away from the Requip mage.

Natsu immediately went to Lucy and Wendy's area, where he complained to the Stellar Spirit mage about how Erza's torture made him hungry.

"Why are you telling me that?! You already ate all of my food in my apartment!" Lucy snapped, yelling angrily at Natsu. Wendy tried to calm the two down but her meek voice was overpowered by theirs.

"Does anyone have a watch? Need to know the time, I have to meet with someone," Gray asked in general, looking around the area.

All of the sudden, a certain blue-haired water mage popped out of a bush and ran towards Gray. "Who does Gray-sama need to meet and why?!"

Gray didn't look surprised at Juvia's sudden appearance but he wasn't thrilled either. She still had some twigs stuck in her hair but he didn't bother pointing it out. "Just Lyon. Told me he had something urgent and important to say."

Juvia looked startled. "Lyon-sama?!" Her eyes suddenly widened in horror. "Something important? Could it be that he would finally proclaim his love for you?" She started circling around in panic. "Hasn't he given up his feelings for you?! Why?!"

"Clearly you're still misunderstanding," Gray could only say, shaking his head disappointedly at the water mage, who didn't seem to hear what he had just said.

"Something urgent and important, eh? Very intriguing," Erza said as she touched her chin in contemplation, approaching Gray.

Gray looked over at the scarlet-haired mage. "Oh yeah, almost forgot. Apparently you need to come with me too, Erza."

Juvia became too depressed. "Even Erza-san is now included in this complicated love pandemonium?!"

The two only ignored her wails.

Before any of them could say anything else, another voice was heard from the crowd. "Wendy?"

The Sky Dragon Slayer, who was still attempting to stop Natsu and Lucy, turned around upon hearing her name, searching for the source. She didn't immediately see the person, but the next thing she knew, a gust of pink attacked her...

But wait, she was actually being hugged.

"Chelia?!" she said in surprise, glancing sideways at the girl close to her.

"Wendy! I missed you!" the Sky God Slayer exclaimed, hugging her tightly.

"Wait, if Chelia's here..." Gray voiced, searching the crowd for someone with silver hair. A hand from behind then tapped his shoulder.

"I'm right here, idiot." A snicker followed.

Gray slowly turned around, smirking at the guy behind him. "Lyon."

A figure wearing a pink dress approached the water mage, who was still sulking on the ground. "Juvia?"

The water mage's mood abruptly shifted from depression to surprise. She whispered in disbelief, "Meredy?!"

The Maguilty mage shushed her with a smile, still wary about being caught, but still couldn't help but hug her gently. The water mage hugged her back, her mood filled with glee this time.

The two ice mages then shook hands, looks of gratefulness on their faces.

The four of them could only manage to say each other, "It's good to see you again."

* * *

**A/N:** Updated a bit longer this time, my apologies! (Might edit this again for grammatical errors, though!) Anyway, has anyone also noticed how Meredy was drawn consistently with something covering her ears (the flashback as a child, Grimoire heart times, as well as at present arc, check it out). Since we don't know much more about Meredy's abilities at present, I'm gonna play a bit with that idea and insert those tidbits in the story, which will be elaborated soon! That's all for now, and again, thanks for reading this chapter! :3 Will try to update again soon. Reviews are still very much appreciated!


	10. Chapter 10

Gray crossed his arms. "So you mean to say a magic-absorbing dark gate appeared…"

"And probably sucked Jellal into it?" Natsu continued, looking at the pink-haired mage before them.

Meredy simply nodded, eyes facing the floor. Retelling the events wasn't really a comfortable thing for her. She could not bring herself to look into anybody's eyes, especially Erza's. At that time, the Requip mage seemed to have an unreadable expression on her face.

Earlier, after saying their greetings by the stage, Erza instructed them to speak of the matters in the Fairy Tail guild house instead. Aware of Meredy's status, she was afraid that they may cause a fuss in such a crowded place, and it didn't help that there were probably some Magic Council members roaming about. Though she and Gray were the only ones they intended to spoke to, Natsu and Juvia ended up coming along. Lucy and Wendy, along with Chelia, chose to be left by the stage for last minute preparations.

At that moment, Erza felt her stomach churning. She actually already had a bad feeling upon sighting Meredy without the other members of Crime Sorcière, particularly a certain blue-haired male. There was definitely something wrong, and seeing Meredy alone, something "urgent and important" did not sound like good news.

And the minute Meredy started sharing her experience, her assumptions were confirmed. She was also aware that Meredy was probably stating the best case scenario—that was, Jellal was just missing, and not dead.

"I see," Gray uttered as he contemplated on what she said, "I'm curious though, why are you with Lyon?"

"It's a long story," Lyon answered immediately for her, who was sitting beside the Maguilty mage.

Meredy smiled a little. "True, it is. But he's the one who helped me the most in these circumstances. For that I'm really thankful to him." She didn't notice how the statement made Lyon's face flush pink.

"Juvia is just glad that you're safe, Meredy." The water mage approached her. "With the Magic Council around, it's good that you're not wearing your usual clothes too. Juvia didn't recognize you straightaway."

Lyon observed the brief widening of Meredy's eyes upon hearing what Juvia said, but the girl simply replied a "yeah" while avoiding the water mage's gaze.

"Um, sorry to interrupt!" another voice entered. They all turned their head towards the guild house entrance to see Lucy. "Master Makarov ordered me to fetch you guys since the program is starting in a few." She offered an apologetic glance to Meredy and Lyon.

"Sorry, Meredy, but I guess we'll talk more about this later," Gray said, standing up. The other Fairy Tail mages also did the same.

Meredy also stood up. "O-of course! Please don't apologize. It's me who is asking the favour, anyway."

It was then when Erza spoke unexpectedly. "You too should try to enjoy the event for today. We'll report what we have learned right away to master once we see him, so perhaps later we'll find out more about that dark guild."

The Fairy Tail mages started walking away, but Meredy briskly forwarded her steps to follow them. "Wait, Erza!" she said, to which the Requip mage turned her head. "About Jellal, I-I'm..."

"There's nothing to apologize for. None of these is your fault." Erza gave her a small smile, though Meredy knew that she was only giving her a strong front since Erza's eyes were gleaming. "I'm sure _that man…_will be fine." The Requip mage nodded her head once, excusing herself, and started walking away again.

Meredy could only watch her retreating form, still feeling remorse in her heart.

"And you know," Natsu interjected beside her, startling Meredy, "I know Jellal is a tough guy. I'm sure he's okay." He gave her a wide grin before sauntering off to his comrades.

"Meredy." Juvia placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "Smile. Juvia knows that things are probably difficult for you at the moment, but we are here for you; remember that." The water mage also gave her an encouraging smile. "As Erza-san said, you should enjoy the festival too." She squeezed her shoulder a little, before running off to trail her guild mates.

She was left staring at the empty guild entrance. "Here…for me…" Meredy placed a hand on her chest, subconsciously echoing the words said to her.

"Exactly as I told you before, right?"

Meredy glanced at the owner of the voice, who stopped walking when he was beside her.

"Now, let's enjoy the festival, shall we?" Lyon turned to face her, giving her the last smile that she needed to convince herself to let go of the negative emotions overcoming her.

Finally, she smiled back. "Okay."

The two headed out from the building, and made their way towards the festival grounds. Several people were going over the booths lined up with different games and items displayed on each corner.

A jolly female voice boomed throughout the grounds through the magical speakers on each junction, "Good morning everybody! This is Mirajane! In a few minutes, the program of the second day of the Fairy Tail Festival will commence! Those who want front row views near the stage, I suggest you already approach this area before the seats get taken!" Just then, rowdy footsteps were heard going towards the stage. "After our short program, special booths and rides will be opened! Why are they special, you ask? It's because they'll be manned by the Fairy Tail members themselves! Stay tuned and see you around!"

When the announcement ended, Lyon started speaking. "Would you like to watch the program? Chelia probably saved seats for us."

"N-no!" Meredy said immediately, causing Lyon to raise a confused eyebrow. "Well, I would actually love to, but I don't think I should stay in one place for long…"

Lyon slowly gave her a look of understanding. "That makes sense. Should we go over the booths, then?"

She was still showing him an anxious look. "No, perhaps you should go alone. Maybe I'll find a place with less crowds and hide there or—"

"Weren't you the one who said that you shouldn't stay in one place for long?" he countered instantly, getting annoyed with her reluctance. Her eyes briefly widened with his retort, and it was then when he noticed how frightened she looked. Seeing it, his features gradually softened. "Look, you have nothing to be afraid of. I'm here with you, right?"

Through her blue-tinted lenses, she felt his sincerity as she glanced back at the black orbs looking at her. What he said was a big contradiction for her; she wanted to point out that it was exactly because _he_ was with _her_ that she was feeling afraid—afraid of his involvement with someone like her. But then again, what he said made sense; it would be harder if she was cornered in one place alone.

She looked away from him.

She had already faced many circumstances when she had to gamble with the choices she had made, and in the end, she was really never able to predict what would happen afterwards. Besides, she really had to stay with him until at least hearing what Fairy Tail had to say about her situation. Though still feeling a bit uncertain, she finally nodded. "Alright then."

Satisfied with her answer at last, he began walking ahead of her, though he made sure that she was following him. They passed by several merchandise booths before stopping over at a booth labelled 'Balloons and Darts.'

"This looks fun." Lyon advanced towards the table and urged Meredy to come closer, to which she did.

Meredy glanced at the stand before them. The booth had two levels—easy and difficult. The easy one had the typical setting of the game wherein several small balloons were lined up on a cork board, and was about two meters away from the table. The prizes for the easy stage looked nothing special, at least for Meredy.

The prizes for the difficult round, however, appeared more valuable, though Meredy cringed at the setup. Unlike the easy one, the balloons were lined with wide spaces between them, and the distance between the balloon board and the table were roughly five times the distance of one in the easy round.

"That looks impossible," Meredy commented, scratching the side of her cheek.

Lyon only smirked. "Is that a challenge?"

Meredy gave him a silly grin. "Let's see what you can do, then."

Lyon tried the easy round first, and as expected, he ended up winning pretty easily. He was able to pop five balloons consecutively, thus earning him a hand-sewn Exceed keychain. Lyon was feeling pretty fired up and looked over at Meredy if she too was feeling the same, but saw that she seemed preoccupied with the surroundings. "Hey." He threw the keychain at her, which she reflexively caught. "Let's go to the difficult round."

She only bobbed her head, after glancing back at the surroundings once more, as if she was anticipating the presence of someone else. Lyon noted this but dragged her towards the next round.

Lyon analysed the sight before him. Similar to the easy round, he needed to hit five consecutive balloons to obtain the grandest prize. There was a sign indicating that if the player was able to hit a total of five balloons using less than five darts, they would get a special prize. Whatever that special prize was, it wasn't revealed, but it got Lyon's curiosity. The conditions for it didn't seem attainable, however.

"How do you even hit five balloons with less than five darts?" Lyon sensed Meredy only shrugging in response, but he figured that he should at least try getting the grandest prize. One could choose among a wide variety of large cute stuffed animals, apparently. Not that he liked stuff toys—it was more for his pride, actually.

Lyon threw the first dart, but due to the wide distance between the table and the balloon board, it only landed on the floor, about halfway from the board. A teasing snigger was heard from Meredy, and the ice mage turned red in embarrassment. He threw the next dart with more force, but still, due to the distance, his accuracy was lessened and the dart only landed on an empty space on the cork board. All the remaining darts landed on anything but the balloons.

Meredy noticed how Lyon fisted his palms in frustration. "Whatever happened to the challenge?"

"Shut up, it's not over yet." He handed some more jewels to the happy owner of the booth. He clutched the five new darts on his hands.

Meredy observed how he transferred the four darts on his non-dominant hand, and started twirling the remaining dart inside the other. Meredy's eyes widened when she saw an icy aura engulfing his right hand. She suddenly realized what he was attempting to do, but before she could stop him, he already swung his right arm forward, an arrow of ice coming out of his hand. The ice ray propelled the dart towards one balloon, effectively popping it.

The owner could only gape in shock.

"That's cheating!" Meredy exclaimed, flailing her hands in front of her.

"No, it isn't," he calmly replied back, "there aren't any rules saying that magic isn't allowed. And using ice, I have better accuracy." Lyon faced the table again, and shot the remaining four darts in a similar way using ice magic. He popped four balloons with ease.

The owner was still shocked, but weakly motioned an arm towards the stuffed toys anyway, indicating that he had won.

"What did I tell you?" He sneered positively, grabbing a random pink stuffed toy and handing it to Meredy afterwards.

She smiled at him, cuddling the stuffed toy in her arms. "You still haven't obtained the special prize, though."

Lyon flinched. "That challenge is…impossible."

Meredy raised an eyebrow and closed her eyes, as if brooding on something. After a few seconds, her eyes brightened up. "No, it isn't. Let me try."

Lyon snorted in disbelief but decided to humour her anyway. He paid for the next set of game to the bewildered owner, and took the stuffed toy from her. He handed her the darts. "Here."

She grabbed a dart from him. "Thanks, but I need just one."

He gave her a disbelieving look but grasped the remaining four darts anyway, just in case.

Meredy lifted her hand behind her for momentum, and as she threw the dart, she consequently casted, "Maguilty Sodom!"

The dart was then engulfed with a teal energy shaped like a blade, and on its sides were two pairs of similarly-shaped teal blades making its way towards the balloons. All five targeted balloons burst at the same time.

Both Lyon's and the owner's jaws dropped.

Meredy only beamed mischievously at them. "Five balloons, less than five darts, right?"

Lyon was the first to recover, seeing the playful look on her face. _"So it seems that you are capable of making an expression like that…"_ he said to himself, realizing that it was the first time she saw her like that.

The owner, whose jaws were still opened, could only hand Meredy a small white envelope, before closing his booth, mumbling how he should state specific rules next time or else some crazy mages would end up hounding his prizes.

Lyon was too absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice Meredy walking close to him.

"I wonder what's inside this envelope," she remarked, not noticing how Lyon was in a pensive state.

Her words snapped him back to reality. "A-ah," he gazed down at the paper between her hands. "Cash prize, maybe?"

"That's a boring 'special' prize then," she uttered disappointedly, "but jewels are jewels. That's still acceptable." She was about to open the envelope when she heard hushed whispers from the people around them.

"Hey, man, the Magic Council's approaching. Don't do anything stupid and be quiet!"

"Yeah, right. As if we'll end up in jail if we're too noisy. It's not like we're criminals, anyway!"

Lyon noticed how she was visibly shaken with the strangers' exchange. He glanced sideways to see some members of the Magic Council walking in the middle of the street. He exhaled an irritated puff at them, before shoving the large stuffed toy in Meredy's hands and placing his arm over her shoulders.

Meredy lifted her head in confusion but Lyon swung his head downwards, silently ordering her to continue lowering her head. She lightly nodded and shielded her face with the stuffed toy.

Lyon looked over at the approaching councilmen and was stunned to see one of them who was squinting his eyes at him. The councilman had dark hair with three distinctive scars on the left side of his face. The ice mage found himself glaring back, before the councilman withdrew his eyes and opted to look forward.

When they were a good distance away, he let go of her shoulder. "They're gone. Let's go to the opposite direction—"

"No, I should leave," she said with a glum tone.

He couldn't see her face since it was hidden behind the stuffed toy. "I thought we already settled this earlier."

She hugged the stuffed toy tighter. "No, you don't understand…"

"Why?" Lyon's eyebrows scrunched in confusion. He tried to recall the previous events before they saw Gray and the others. His eyes widened in realization. "Did something actually happen earlier?"

Meredy lowered the toy to look at him, and then nodded. Her green orbs were terrified.

Alarmed, Lyon started guiding her to a safer place with less people. "What's wrong?" They stopped at the corner of a street. "Did someone from the Magic Council recognize you?"

She clutched the stuffed toy hard. "Yes."

_When they arrived in Magnolia, they immediately followed the path towards the festival grounds; it was easily discernible due to the colourful signs as well as the jolly music playing around the corner. As they followed the flow of people going in town, Chelia was already displaying her amusement seeing lots of different prizes from several booths. _

"_Oooh! There's a teddy bear that I like!" the girl excitedly exclaimed._

_Meredy turned to the Sky God Slayer, smiling. "Why don't you try and win it?" _

"_You bet I will! The two of you go on ahead, I'll catch up with you!" The Sky God Slayer then frolicked her way towards a booth which seemed to have something to do with a bow and arrow._

_Meredy couldn't help but chuckle. "Will she be okay?"_

"_Yeah, she'll manage," Lyon gave her a confident smirk." Knowing her, she'll probably use Sky magic to perfectly hit the target."_

_Before Meredy could react any further, a high-pitched shriek was heard from behind them. "Is that Lyon-sama of Lamia Scale?!"_

_Both turned around to see a bunch of women marching their way towards the ice mage. Meredy hastily sidestepped to avoid colliding with the stampede. _

"_It is him! The powerful Ice-Make mage from Lamia Scale!" One eagerly shouted._

_Another one retorted, "He really is more handsome in person!"_

"_Uwaaah! So cool!"_

_Lyon appeared to be distraught with the sudden attention he was gaining and seemed to be asking help from Meredy, but she simply shooed a hand away, telling him to entertain them first. She saw him grunt in response, before sinking in the horde of fan girls. _

_Meredy sighed, observing how Lyon was being harassed, sort of. "I never knew he was this famous. I should consider myself lucky, then."_

_She surveyed the surroundings to check booths which she could preoccupy herself with while waiting for the ice mage. She focused her eyes on one booth which involved guessing what was inside a can by shaking it, relying on the sense of hearing in order to win the prize. She was pretty good with that stuff, so she drew near towards the booth. Before she could reach it though, she noticed the presence of several persons wearing white cloaks approaching. _

_The Magic Council._

_She immediately turned her head away from them and focused her eyes on the cans arranged on the table. She waited until every single one of them had passed by, and when she no longer felt their presence behind her, she turned her head towards their direction to double check. Her eyes widened in panic when she saw one of them looking directly at her._

_He had three scars on his face._

_It was Doranbolt._

_She recalled the time when the councilman approached her and Jellal after the Grand Magic Games. While their last encounter had not been unfriendly, she was unsure whether he was a friend or a foe. While he did let them escape that time, Doranbolt assured them it was only a one-time thing, so she could not help but feel wary of his presence. _

_Quickly, she turned her head back to the cans and adjusted her shades, hoping that the disguise worked. To make herself less suspicious, she started speaking with the owner of the booth and asked for the instructions of the game._

_She was too focused on avoiding the gaze of the Magic Council member that she didn't even notice that the owner was done explaining. "…that's all that you need to do. Is that clear?"_

_Meredy's eyes blinked several times. "Y-yes!" She grabbed one can and was about to start shaking it when she heard a low male voice._

"_Would you please repeat the instructions?" the voice said._

_Meredy's fright came back. The voice was awfully familiar, and she glanced sideways to confirm her suspicions. _

_Doranbolt was beside her._

_Panic clouding her senses, Meredy nervously dropped the can back to the table and excused herself from the owner's booth. In her haste, she accidentally hit more of the cans causing them to fall to the ground. The owner screamed profanities, causing Meredy to turn back regretfully and helped in picking up the cans on the floor. Much to her dismay, Doranbolt also aided them, causing the two of them to face one another. Meredy tried to conceal her face by lowering her head, hoping the bonnet, scarf, and glasses were working._

_Doranbolt suddenly stood up after picking up about five cans. "I'll have to excuse myself now." He walked away without speaking another word._

_Meredy felt great relief, ignoring the annoyed sentiments of the owner. As she picked the last can, she noticed a note attached to it._

_She bit her lip nervously, but read the message anyway._

"_Meet me at the alley around the corner now. __Don't try to do anything funny."_

_Meredy felt the bags underneath her eyes drooping as she tried to repeat what was written on the note. _

_Was it the end for her? _

_As she placed the last can on the table, she briskly paid the owner money worth one game, even though she hadn't started playing yet. She turned her head towards Lyon and her fan girls, and seeing that he was still rather preoccupied, Meredy hurriedly walked her way towards the meeting place mentioned without any second thoughts. _

_She was already caught, and asking Lyon's help would make the matters worse; she couldn't involve him any longer. _

_As she turned to the street described, she saw the scarred councilman with his arms crossed. He didn't look very friendly, and was looking at her intently._

_Hesitantly, she walked her way towards Doranbolt, head stooped low._

_When she was in front of him, he immediately started speaking. "There's too much people in this place. Let's not have this conversation here." _

_After making sure that no one was watching, he pulled her towards the alley. While Doranbolt still held her arm, Meredy suddenly felt herself being transported someplace else._

_The next thing she knew, she was surrounded by lots of trees. Of course, she had to be arrested in a secluded place. They couldn't cause a commotion in the festival grounds._

"_I'll make this quick," the councilman started saying._

_Meredy was expecting him to cast a spell to bind her hands, but was instead struck by words._

"_What happened to Jellal?"_

_She did not anticipate that. Was he really intending to just speak with her?_

"_Well?" He gave her an impatient look._

"_I, I don't know," she answered with all honesty. _

_Before she knew it, she was already narrating the events with Portico Dusk to the councilman, ending her story until she was rescued by a mage friend. She didn't specify who it was, but thankfully, Doranbolt didn't seem to care for that mage's identity._

_She found herself asking him questions this time. "How did you know about Jellal?"_

_He crossed his arms with an unchanging facial expression. "We have been monitoring the activities of Crime __Sorcière. It has come to our attention that the guild suddenly became too quiet."_

"_I see," Meredy could only reply back._

_A moment of silence followed before Doranbolt spoke again. "You still haven't found Ultear, I assume?"_

_Meredy only lowered her head silently, which gave the councilman his answer._

_For the first time since their conversation, Doranbolt appeared to have a sympathetic look on his face. "What will happen to you, then? What's your plan?"_

_She answered again honestly, "I really don't know."_

_Doranbolt breathed out deeply. "I see."_

_After another round of silence, Doranbolt gently placed a hand on her shoulder. Upon contact, he had teleported the two of them back to the alley._

_Meredy was still speechless with the sudden events when the councilman started walking without saying anything. Confused with him, she began questioning him. "You're letting me get away again?"_

_Without looking at her, he uttered, "Don't get me wrong. I know your past and I know you were a criminal."_

_Meredy cringed slightly, and then saw that he was facing her again._

"_I'm giving you these choices. After this whole issue, you can either walk away and never show your face to this country ever again, leaving your 'friends' behind,"_

_Meredy displayed a horrified look on her face, yet Doranbolt seemed unaffected._

"_Or, you could always just surrender to the council."_

_With a swish of his cape, he strode away from her, going back to the festival grounds._

_When Meredy returned to her senses, she briskly walked back to the place where she left Lyon. To her surprise, Lyon wasn't surrounded by girls anymore. He was left speaking with another female, who appeared to be more respectable than the fan girls that attacked the ice mage earlier. She couldn't see her face, but she saw that the woman had long, straight dark hair and was wearing a pair of white blazer and skirt with black tights. The mystery woman had already bid her farewell to Lyon before Meredy could know her identity._

_Lyon noticed Meredy's presence as she drew nearer, and asked, "Hey, you just stayed here waiting for me?"_

_She gave him a weak smile. "Yes."_

"Yes, I lied to you back then." Meredy ended her statement, ashamed. She only told him that Doranbolt recognized her but let her get away in the end. She chose to leave out the details about the choices given to her by the councilman.

Lyon pondered on her situation. They couldn't let that happen again, and he knew not all members of the council would be nice enough to let her escape.

Meredy saw the troubled look on his face. "I'm sorry, I hope you bear with me much longer." She didn't really want to say those statements, but at present, she was left with no other choice but to be with him for safety. "Once we talk to the Fairy Tail members again later, we'll go our separate ways. You don't need to trouble yourself with me any longer." She gave him a sad smile.

For some reason, Lyon felt something was wrong. He was well-aware that by the end of the day, his 'mission' for her, which was to just escort her safely, would end, and that the next day, they would go back to how things were normally done.

But he still felt something was wrong. At that moment, he was overcome with the sense of responsibility over her—but for whatever reasons, he didn't know.

Perhaps he was already growing attached to this girl?

Lyon shook his head. This wasn't the same feelings he had before for Juvia.

He looked at her again.

She was still smiling sadly at him.

He fisted his hand. He was bothered once more.

He had to see it again.

A flash of her beaming smile when they were riding the train back then entered in his mind. The genuine smile that was very pleasing to his eyes.

"Don't be stupid. I'll be here for you, Meredy."

No matter what it took, he needed to see it again.

* * *

**A/N: **Who was the mystery woman that Lyon spoke with? (Though basing from the descriptions, I think it's quite obvious already? XD). Also, slow update is slow, but I was pretty preoccupied with tumblr this week. And since I may start working next week, it may become slower. I'll still try to update every week, though! Again, thank you for the story follows and favourites, and as usual, I would like to know what you think!

princessforeveralone – thank you again for the review and support! Just continue writing; you're still young, and there's always room for improvement! ;) We'll find out the story behind the ear muffs later on, teehee! :3


	11. Chapter 11

Her eyes were gaping at him in surprise.

"_Don't be stupid."_

"_I'll be here for you."_

"_Meredy."_

The last word struck her the most.

It was the first time he said her name.

But after a short while, the weight of his second statement hit her hard too. He might have only said a few words, but the thought of the mere sentence was heavy. If his words were indeed earnest, it was a big commitment, given her current standing. A huge doubt began clouding her mind regarding the sincerity of his statement, because it meant that he was willing to risk his life for her.

Who was she to Lyon for him to give her that privilege?

She found herself looking at him straight into the eyes, searching for reassurance that he was telling the truth.

But the answer immediately bounced back to her through his strong, unyielding gaze.

He had meant what he said.

Then everything else went weird. Her face was feeling hot, her stomach was acting funny, and her heart was beating faster. While she had experienced various emotions before through her Maguilty magic, the combination of the emotions she was having at that moment was very foreign to her. She had never been under a charm spell before, was this how it felt?

She immediately looked away.

"Just trust me on this," she heard him say. When she nodded, her arm was grabbed by him again, pulling her away from their previous spot. She didn't know where they were going, but he stopped when they came across a person.

It was that mystery woman who Lyon was conversing with earlier.

The woman chuckled. "Looks like our paths merged once more, Lyon Vastia."

The ice mage let out a sigh. "I thought I told you to call me 'Lyon.'"

Her lips curved up into a smirk upon seeing his frustration. Her eyes then trailed to the pink-haired girl. "And this is?"

"Oh yeah, this is Me—" Lyon stopped just in time, realizing how he was about to commit a grave mistake. "Mary! Yeah, Mary. Chelia's distant cousin."

Meredy let out a breath in relief, and then immediately smiled at the woman.

"I see. It's nice to meet you, Mary. I'm Kagura," she uttered with a smile, shaking her hands. Kagura chose to ignore why they were acting weird, but she still eyed her closely, much to Meredy's discomfort. "I don't think I've seen you in the Grand Magic Games, though."

"That's because she's just visiting," Lyon quickly interjected, "She isn't in any guild at the moment, actually."

"So, she _is_ a mage." Kagura's eyes twinkled, seeing an opportunity. "She should join Mermaid Heel, then."

Lyon laughed nervously. "You should know that we're urging her to join Lamia Scale too." He coughed loudly and planned on changing the subject swiftly, before it would turn into yet another Yukino-like scuffle that happened during the party at the castle. "Where are you heading to, by the way?"

"The program just ended, and I wanted to visit Erza. I heard she would be manning a fighting booth, where people could personally challenge her into a fight." She slightly titled the hilt of her sheathed sword. "I actually just plan to ask her how she is, though I don't really mind taking up the challenge as well."

The ice mage crossed his arms, smirking. "Heh, as expected from you. Tough as ever."

"You aren't bad yourself, you know," the mage from Mermaid Heel retorted back, smirking at him as well.

The two mages exchanged looks with their lips curved upwards, and for a moment, Meredy felt out-of-place. She felt an unwanted pinch in her heart, and she didn't know why.

Kagura continued, "You know, perhaps you should try and challenge her too."

Lyon waved a single hand. "Nah, I'll pass."

"I see." Kagura began walking away. "Well, I better get going then." She eyed the two's close proximity and the stuffed toy in Meredy's arms. "You two enjoy your date."

Lyon groaned in response, but didn't bother pointing out that they weren't a couple. They were often mistaken for one, and he was getting pretty tired of convincing them otherwise. They wouldn't believe him, anyway.

"I saw the two of you conversing earlier, after I spoke with Doranbolt," Meredy professed, looking at the dark haired woman's withdrawing figure. "She must be someone special to you, am I right?"

"What the hell, what made you say that?" the ice mage refuted back, though he couldn't help but blush. He scratched one side of his cheek awkwardly. "I only fought her during the games. That's all. Though I have to admit, she is special; she's a very reputable and powerful mage, I give you that. But she isn't special to me in _that_ way, no."

"I see."

Lyon gazed over his companion and saw that while she was smiling, there was a pained look in her eyes, and he didn't know why. He frowned.

"We should get going too, right?" she suggested, glancing over the lively environment around them.

"Yeah, but let's grab something to eat first. I'm hungry." Lyon started walking away without waiting for her to respond, and he sneered inwardly upon seeing that Meredy could only trail after him. He recalled her pained face again, but decided that he wouldn't bother himself with that thought at the moment as he led her to a nearby restaurant.

In silence, they walked inside the building and decided to take a seat at the corner of the room, where they would be most unnoticed. Lyon waved at a waiter to obtain their menus, while Meredy placed the stuffed toy beside her. She then realized that she was still holding the prize envelope from the darts and balloon game.

"Looks like we'll finally know if we'll be jewels richer with this." She ripped off the top part of the envelope and brought out two pieces of glossy paper.

Lyon raised an eyebrow. "Those don't look like money. What does it say?"

It took her a few moments to respond as she tried to summarize what was written. "Well, apparently these are vouchers for an all-you-can-eat buffet dinner at the most expensive restaurant here in Magnolia. And since this is from a Fairy Tail event, there's a special note indicating that you could have an exclusive date with any Fairy Tail member of your choice." She brought down the stubs on the table. "Well, there isn't really somebody there that I'd like to have a date with, and even if I did, I shouldn't." She placed the vouchers on his hand. "You should take these."

Lyon wrinkled his brow. "And why?"

"Consider it as a thank you gift from me for everything that you have done." She placed a hand on her chin. "And besides, I bet there's someone in Fairy Tail that you like!"

Just then, the menus arrived before Lyon could say anything else.

"Well," Meredy asserted, going back to the topic, "am I right?"

"That would be right," Lyon started saying slowly, "_if _we were having this conversation months ago. I admit I did like somebody from Fairy Tail before."

"Eh?" Meredy was slightly shocked. She was just actually teasing him, and somehow, it felt good that she was able to make him confess something like that. "Really? Who is she?"

"None of your business," he dismissed quickly, going over the menu. "Now, be a good girl and just order."

"No fair," she grumbled as she grabbed the other menu, pouting.

In the end, Meredy could only comply and ordered a milkshake. Lyon chose a meal with a plate of clubhouse sandwiches and juice. The waiter left to forward their orders to the kitchen.

"Okay, since you won't tell me anything about the Fairy Tail girl," Meredy mused as she tapped her chin, "Go on a date with Kagura, then!"

"I thought we already came into the conclusion that I do not have any feelings for her." Lyon crossed his arms in frustration. "And Kagura isn't even from Fairy Tail."

"Well, the vouchers don't say anything against dating another person from another guild. I think the Fairy Tail thing is just a bonus, actually." She placed her hands on the edge of the table, leaning her body closer to him. "Besides, even if you don't have feelings for Kagura at the moment, who knows, maybe it'll develop once you have dinner together!"

"Ugh, will you please stop it?" he snarled annoyingly. "Why are you so determined in pairing me with her, anyway?"

"You know you aren't getting any younger!" Her voice was marked with determination along with enthusiasm. "You have lots of fan girls, why don't you try going out with one of them? Sooner or later, you have to be with somebody!"

"Says a person who doesn't even have a boyfriend," he snapped back, but immediately regretted it after seeing the look on her face.

The excitement in her face and voice faded, as she straightened her body back to the chair. "You're right. I haven't even earned the right to say it… I'm sorry for imposing."

Realizing how insensitive he sounded, he was about to apologize when their food arrived, temporarily suspending the impending discomfort that was about to happen. When the waiter left, Lyon took it as a cue to start speaking. "Look, about what I said earlier, I'm sorry, it wasn't what I really meant—"

"No, you don't have to apologize. Maybe I really was annoying you. I am the one who is supposed to do the apologizing." When she saw the confused look on his face, she decided to continue. "I was imposing onto you some of the things that I wouldn't get in my life. Call them my frustrations, maybe."

Lyon observed how she let out a humourless laugh, and it disturbed him a great deal. He didn't know what to say.

Meredy just proceeded to say what was on her mind, as she fiddled with the straw of her drink. "I've always wanted to know how it feels to live a normal life. Of course, I'm not saying that I regret meeting Ultear and Jellal. They're kind and brilliant people." She stopped playing with the straw and instead leaned her arm on the table, placing her chin on her hand. "But sometimes, I wonder, what would be the feeling of waking up in the morning without ever worrying about the need to get out of that place as soon as possible? Or how it feels to be walking around the streets without being wary that people might notice who I am…?"

He heard how she breathed out a heavy sigh before continuing.

"One of them is falling in love and being with someone, I guess. You know, I think I already know why Jellal refused to have a relationship with someone." She didn't know if she should be saying it to him, but she continued anyway. "Ur said that he shouldn't be punishing himself too much, but he still chose not to pursue their relationship even if he really loved that person. He told us it was because the person he loved was following the path of light, and he wasn't. I was supportive of them at first, but now, I understand why he chose that decision."

Lyon's features softened, as he tried to digest her revelation.

Seeing the sympathetic look on his face, Meredy suddenly brightened up. "Oh, was I speaking too much? I'll stop right now; your sandwich is getting cold!" She took a sip from her milkshake happily, as if she hadn't revealed anything earlier.

He hesitantly grabbed one sandwich and took a bite, still looking at her closely. She was humming a tone and was gazing over the other customers in the restaurant. He pushed his plate in the middle of the table, sharing his food to her.

She looked at him briefly, but took a sandwich anyway. She carelessly took a bite causing some mayonnaise to stain her cheeks. "Oh, but I should tell you, I'm still not changing my mind on giving you the vouchers!" she uttered with her mouth still full.

Lyon rolled his eyes and grabbed a napkin from the dispenser on the table. He leaned in forward and wiped off the condiment on her face. "No."

His sudden action and closeness caused heat to rise up her face again. "W-well, if you won't accept them, I'll give them to Chelia!" She inwardly jumped in victory when she noticed how he seemed to be stabbed by her words. "She seems to like you very much!" she pushed even further.

He looked at her dangerously. "You _wouldn't."_

She didn't seem fazed, however. "I won't if you would accept them."

Leaning back to his chair, he finally slumped back in defeat. "Fine."

A cheerful laughter escaped from Meredy's mouth, as she exclaimed her enthusiastic triumph over him. Lyon huffed in irritation and just took a bite from his sandwich. He couldn't stop his lips from curving upwards though.

He still hadn't forgotten her disclosure earlier, but at least, he made her smile again.

After eating, they resumed their booth-hopping and tried various games. They managed to win more prizes, but decided to stop since Meredy's hands were already full of stuffed animals; even Lyon had to hold some of them. They decided to give out the toys to some children who were passing by, who happily accepted all of them, with the exception of the large pink one.

"We keep that, it's the first prize we won," Lyon said as he handed the last stuffed toy to one kid, who then frolicked away with his friends.

"Seriously?" Meredy giggled. "I never expected you to be the sentimental type."

They decided to pass by some of the booths managed by the Fairy Tail members, such as Natsu's Barbecues, Gray's Ice Treats, and Juvia's Water Spa. They even passed by Erza's just in time to see her scolding Natsu for not being in his own booth.

"But I want to challenge you too, Erza!" Natsu said, justifying his actions.

"Fairy Tail members aren't allowed to join," Erza sternly replied back before kicking him back to his own stall.

Lyon and Meredy however weren't able to stay with them for long since their booths were too close to the Magic Council's headquarters. Lyon assumed that they were positioned there for a reason.

"Probably to keep an eye on those troublemakers," Lyon deduced, pertaining to the Salamander and his fellow Ice-Make mage. Meredy could only agree.

Meredy thought that Lucy's booth was probably one of the most interesting ones, since hers changed by the hour. "She's having a hair salon right now," she mentioned as she saw a Celestial spirit with claws—the spirit of the Crab, she assumed—rigorously cutting the hair of one customer.

"I heard from Gray that she had a hosting session earlier," Lyon shared, "She summoned the Leo spirit, if I'm not mistaken."

"That's…pretty creative," she could only comment.

They passed by other interesting booths, such as Levy's Library, Reedus' Caricature booth, and Lisanna's Animal Petting area. There was also an exhibit on fairies which was organized by Evergreen, and on the other side was Elfman's Manly exhibition. On another corner, a drinking contest hosted by Cana Alberona was occurring. They also passed by the children's area which was managed by Wendy and Romeo, who were also accompanied by Chelia.

"How are you, Chelia?" Meredy asked, approaching the Sky God Slayer.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself here," Lyon added, smiling at the gathering of the several children. Somehow, he remembered his childhood with Gray. He observed some particular children who seemed to be sharing the stuffed toys they donated.

"That's true! It's really fun to get to know others who are my age." Chelia grinned, before excusing herself to aid Wendy and Romeo.

The two continued roaming around the festival grounds. Along the way, they stumbled upon Yuka and Toby, who wagged their eyebrows at Lyon upon seeing the both of them. Lyon dismissed them in annoyance and walked away, much to Meredy's confusion. She heard them laugh before their voices faded with the chatter from the crowd.

Going over another street, they saw a counselling booth on "How to manage a broken heart" by Jet and Droy, as well as a stall on "Family Advices" by Alzack and Bisca. There was also a gathering of men on one corner of the street, headed by Macao and Wakaba. They decided to avoid booths that seemed too outrageous basing from their names, such as "Demon Mirajane's Matchmaking Booth," "Laxus' Electrifying Chair" and "Freed's Fun Jail Booth."

Soon, they did not notice that four hours had already passed past noon, so they decided to rest by riding one of the attractions built by the Iron Dragon Slayer.

They were halfway the top when Lyon started complaining, "This ride sucks," noting the creaking sounds of the tubes keeping the whole attraction together. "I could make a better Ferris Wheel than this load of metal crap."

"Shh, he might hear you," Meredy mumbled, looking at Gajeel from above. Thankfully, he appeared too preoccupied with the managing the queue of people wanting to ride. "But you know, I doubt that anyone would want to take a seat on an icy gondola," she said, recalling her uncomfortable ride on the ice eagle.

Lyon shrugged. "Hmpf, I could set up an area where they could rent appropriate clothes, then."

Meredy only laughed as they reached the top of the ride, where the gondola they were sitting on stopped. She pushed her blue-tinted glasses onto her head to better appreciate the scenery. "Wow, this is a nice view of the town," she remarked, gazing at the buildings. "It's really beautiful," she said further, as tints of orange amplified the splendour due to the gradual descent of the sun.

Lyon gazed sideways and saw how Meredy was beaming—her mouth was slightly opened in awe and her eyes were gleaming with wonder. Without looking at what she was pertaining to, he found himself saying, "Yeah, it is."

Unbeknownst to them, Gray was standing near the queue of the line after he was finished in cleaning up his own booth. He watched over the tall metal attraction before him.

A voice interrupted his sightseeing. "Gray-sama, let's ride the Ferris Wheel together!" The owner of the voice then clutched her arms around his, much to his dismay.

"Get off me, Juvia!" Gray said as he tried to fend her off, but it was futile. "And anyway, I don't think we could. The ride will be closing soon."

"Juvia doesn't think so!" The water mage responded, "Gajeel-kun said that he would be working overtime!"

"Ah, crap," he could only say as he was pulled by the girl towards the queue.

"By the way, has Gray-sama seen Meredy?" the water mage muttered with a worried tone, "Juvia hasn't seen her again since she passed by Juvia's booth."

"Eh, why don't you see for yourself?" Gray pointed his free hand upwards, towards the direction of the highest gondola.

Juvia followed and saw that indeed, Meredy was there, together with Lyon. Although they were a distance away, she was sure that Meredy was smiling, a completely different sight from when she saw her earlier. Her friend also appeared to be in good terms with Lyon, who seemed to be equally comfortable with her.

Gray noticed that for once, Juvia didn't seem to be too love-struck with him even if he was standing that close to her. He found himself looking upwards too, and saw what was making Juvia preoccupied. "Meredy is happier now, it seems."

"Yes, Juvia knows."

Juvia was happy too, and she hoped that her smiles would continue even further.

* * *

**A/N**: Though the chapter is relatively shorter compared to the previous ones, there's more development for their relationship here, hehe! And it would intensify in the next chapter, maybe? Also, I might insert some hints on other ships for the next chapter, so if there's anyone anybody prefers, I'll try to write about them. That's all for now, and as usual, reviews would be great! :3


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N:** First time the author's notes are at the beginning of the chapter! I apologize for the long time to update; I've been really busy the past weeks. Anyway, onto the chapter! Lots of surprises here, maybe? As usual, I'd love to hear from you in the end! Hope you review! :3

* * *

After she had finished folding the last piece of cloth draping around her booth, Mirajane placed all of the things she had used in a large basket and started walking away from her area. She heaved a sigh.

Mira was sad.

The previous night, she had vigorously prepared for the materials that she needed for her matchmaking booth. She even readied her script for the various well-thought-of activities for couples-to-be. She felt that all the hard work she exerted simply went down the drain, since she only had less than ten visitors. She looked at the ground, thinking what might have gone wrong.

Perhaps she should've given more flyers to the people passing by to better advertise her booth?

But then again, she had printed about 500 copies and she hardly had any left with her.

She then looked at the folded banner—_Demon_ _Mirajane's Matchmaking Booth—_in her basket.

Maybe it really was a bad idea to place her old name on the sign? She thought at first that it was actually good publicity to place her well-known title to attract visitors.

She sighed once more.

She was about to move away when she heard another disappointed grunt from beside her. Looking at the source, she saw a fellow guild mate, Freed, who looked equally upset as her. He was sitting on a box and apparently was also done packing away his belongings, though he appeared to be mumbling something to himself. Concerned, Mirajane approached him. "Hello, Freed. Is something wrong?"

"M-mirajane!" He immediately stopped rambling upon hearing her, embarrassed about being caught speaking to himself. "It's nothing. Just a bit bothered."

"Bothered?" Mirajane placed her basket on the ground and sat on another box beside Freed. "Want to talk about it?"

"Thanks, but it's nothing big," he said, giving her a sad smile.

"Let me guess, does it have something to do with the booth?" The white-haired mage scanned through the untouched prizes inside the boxes surrounding them. "I assume you didn't get many visitors?"

Freed gave her a surprised look. "How did you know?"

She giggled. "Heh, I know the look of someone who feels that way!"

It was Freed's turn to look over Mirajane's basket, which seemed to have lots of souvenirs. "You too?"

The girl only nodded and smiled. "Yeah."

"I see." Freed clenched his hand into a fist. "I just think it's sad. You prepared so much for this activity yet it didn't garner that recognition that you were expecting. Makes you think what went wrong."

Mirajane internally giggled, since she also said something along those lines earlier. At least someone could empathize with her, she thought. "Well, there will always be a next time. Guess we'll just have to do better by then."

"That's true." Freed sighed and stood up, stretching his arms and legs. "I just wish that it would happen sooner. Like we could prove ourselves immediately by setting up a better booth." He sat down again and muttered the next sentences with obvious disappointment. "It's too bad though, that we only have this day for the booths. We have a completely different program tomorrow."

Just then, Mirajane's eyes gleamed. "Say, do you think there's someone else who had the same misfortune as us?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but I spoke with Laxus earlier. Seems like he didn't get any visitors at all."

Mirajane tried to recall the Lightning Dragon Slayer's booth, and then pictured a menacing electric chair. She sweatdropped. "_It's no wonder they're afraid_."

"I don't think he's that much affected, though," he continued, trying to recall what Laxus looked like when he carried his special chair out of his area. "I think he was just pretty annoyed about participating in this whole thing, saying it was only a waste of his time since he isn't cut out for this sort of stuff."

His remarks were only met with silence, so Freed looked over at his companion. He raised an eyebrow when he saw that she was simply staring into space, while the corners of her lips were slowly curling up.

"Mira?"

Slowly, her head turned towards him, with a wide sneer plastered on her face. "Freed…"

There was something sinister in the tone of her voice, reminiscent of the time when she fought him and transformed into a demon. While she still retained her normal appearance, Freed felt a rather ominous aura surrounding her. He shuddered. "Y-yes, Mira?"

"Where did Laxus go?" The expression of her face did not change, even upon seeing Freed hesitantly shaking his head. "Let's look for him. I have a plan."

As Mirajane pulled the Dark Écriture mage towards another location, a similar scenario was happening on another street in Magnolia, only, it was Lucy who was pulling a disgruntled Natsu away from a food stand.

"You're such a kill-joy, Lucy!" Natsu crossed his arms as he was being pulled by his scarf. "Why do we have to leave early? I wanted to try more of their food!"

Lucy grunted annoyingly and clutched the material on her fist tighter. "To be honest, I don't mind you eating there." Her eyes trailed down to her almost-empty purse held by her other hand. "If you brought your own money!"

The Fire Dragon Slayer only shrugged his elbows in defeat and did nothing to stop the girl from dragging him on the ground. "Where's Happy?"

As if on cue, the said Exceed flew towards him, delightfully munching a fried tuna on a stick. "I'm here!"

"Good! At least I'm not alone when Evil Overlord Lucy is being mean to me. You're a witness!"

Lucy rolled her eyes and only ignored the nickname. "By the way, has anyone spoken with Master regarding…you know, the issue with Meredy. I learned about it through Juvia."

"Not really sure, to be honest," Natsu remarked, the expression of his face turning more serious. "Everybody has been pretty busy throughout the day. We better ask Erza or Gray though, just to be sure."

Happy flew up higher, still chewing his meal. "If the two of you are looking for Erza, there she is!" he exclaimed, pointing forward a few meters away from them.

Natsu started walking on his feet as Lucy dropped her hand on his scarf, and both sauntered towards the direction of the scarlet-haired mage, who appeared to be conversing with a large man with a bald head.

"Erza!" Natsu shouted, flailing his hand at the said mage as they approached them.

The Requip mage calmly acknowledged them by nodding. "Natsu, Lucy."

"I'm here too!" Happy retorted as he landed just beside Natsu. Erza recognized him too by smiling at him.

Natsu turned his head to the older man beside Erza. The man was holding a plastic cup of shiny peas, and the dragon slayer was about to comment how it complemented his shiny head when Lucy spoke.

"Wait, you're Jura-san!" the Stellar Spirit mage said, "Good to see that you're able to visit here too."

"Lucy-dono, Natsu-dono, Cat-dono," he greeted them back, smiling as he stroked his beard with his free hand.

"I hope you're enjoying the festival, though most of our booths are closed already."

"I managed to visit some booths; there were some giving away free stuff, such as these _spicy peas_." The wizard saint gave them a nauseated look, which implied that he wasn't much a fan of peas. Natsu took notice of this and volunteered to eat them for him, to which Jura instantly complied. He said the next words as Natsu started munching on the treat. "As much as I want to enjoy more of this celebration, I'm afraid that I must inform you of a rather serious matter."

"A sewrious maccher?" Natsu asked with his mouth still full, to which he received a scolding from Erza.

The older mage didn't seem to mind the two of them as he continued. "Yes. Yesterday in our guild house, we heard a loud thunderous noise outside. It seemed near our place, so I tried searching for the spot where the 'lightning' hit, yet I didn't find anything. At first I dismissed it as a simple lightning crash, but I felt something was wrong." The wizard saint then crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "Just to make sure, I visited the Magical Division of Atmospheric and Geophysical Occurrences in Crocus this morning."

Natsu gulped down a large portion of peas before speaking. "So what did you learn?"

Erza answered for him. "Apparently, the same 'lightning' also struck Magnolia, Crocus and other various locations throughout Fiore." She paused before continuing. "All at the same time."

"Wait," Lucy interjected, trying to process all the information they just learned. "What time did this lightning strike happen?"

Jura replied, "About half an hour past three in the afternoon."

Lucy placed a hand on her chin as she tried to recall the events the previous day. She jolted her head when something clicked on her mind. "Hold on! I think I remember a loud noise around that time yesterday!" The events wherein Natsu and Gray were in the process of destroying the stage flashed back in her mind, along with the weird sound she heard. "So I wasn't just hearing things!"

"I heard the noise too," Happy added and then scratched his head. "I just thought it was my stomach grumbling."

"It seems like it really happened, though everyone was too busy to notice where it came from," Erza commented, mildly disappointed in herself for not detecting it.

"Anyway, I requested the division to look more into it. They told me that it wasn't just a normal lightning strike, stating it appeared to have some magical origin." The wizard saint opened his eyes, which were filled with apprehension. "In truth, this really worries me. I wanted to help them to know more, but they said it would take days to locate the exact coordinates of where the strikes appeared. By then, we could investigate more."

"I hope it isn't anything serious," Lucy whispered, though she was really doubtful that it wasn't.

"Shifting to another matter, have you seen Lyon? I assume you have spoken with him and Meredy-dono." Jura spoke in a quiet tone, being extra careful knowing the presence of the Magic Council around the town.

"Yes, we have," Erza replied rather stiffly. She still felt uneasy not knowing of the status of the certain blue-haired individual. "We haven't informed Master, but I'm sure he'd be willing to help."

"That's good to hear. The issue with Meredy-dono worries me too."

Lucy looked over at Natsu, who seemed to be in deep thought. When he perceived that she was looking at him, their eyes met—Lucy gave him a worried expression, while Natsu only nodded. Lucy took it as a cue to tell what was on her mind. "Hey, what if perhaps, these two issues are connected?"

Both Erza's and Jura's eyes briefly widened at her suggestion, but before they could comment about it, a sudden outburst coming near interrupted their line of thoughts.

"This fragrance! Is it Erza-san?!"

Upon hearing the voice, the Requip mage immediately took on a defensive stance and nippily pinned down the source of the voice, who then grunted in both pain and pleasure in response. Erza cringed, pushing him down with more force. "Ichiya…"

"Aah, still as tough and beautiful as ever, Erza-san!" Ichiya said with glee, despite being flattened on the ground by the scarlet-haired mage. "And I don't mind you forcing me down; it gives me greater opportunity to whiff your perfume more!"

Disgusted, Erza quickly stood up and kicked him away, much to the agony and delight of the Perfume mage.

"Hello, everyone!" Another voice happily greeted. Everyone else turned to him, and saw Eve, who was beside Hibiki. Ren was also with them, though he was lagging behind due to Sherry, who was urging him to get a prize for her.

"Wow, look at everyone here," Hibiki exclaimed gladly, going over at the people around them. "It's like a reunion of the Allied Forces!"

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, but we're missing Wendy, Charle—" she started saying, but was interrupted when she was suddenly shrouded with flowers by Eve and Hibiki. "—Gray and Lyon."

"True, but while waiting for them," Eve said, wagging his eyebrows at Lucy.

"Why don't we have dinner first?" Hibiki finished for him, holding Lucy on the shoulder.

As Lucy tried to fend them off, the other members of the alliance who weren't present, particularly the two ice mages, were already conversing on another street in Magnolia.

Lyon was leaning on a lamp post as they were waiting for their two female companions. "Have you already informed your master about it?"

Gray, who was standing beside him, shook his head. "No, but knowing him, I'm sure he'd be glad to help and wouldn't back down even if it involved dark guilds."

"I see. Good, then." Lyon crossed his arms, as he gazed over a few stalls away from them. There, Juvia and Meredy patiently stood as they waited for the booth owner to finish weaving their cotton candies. They appeared to be taking turns in holding the large pink stuffed toy. He felt contented in watching them from a distance, not saying a word.

"By the way," Gray began saying, breaking the silence, "what's with you and Meredy?"

Lyon raised a thin eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"How do I say this…" Gray scratched his neck. "You're too concerned about her."

The older mage gave him a confused look. "What's wrong with that? Aren't you concerned about her too?"

"Well, I am. I'm just wondering why you seem…" Gray paused, looking for the right word. "I don't know, too attached to her."

Lyon glanced at him sideways, not looking amused. "I don't know where you want this conversation to head to."

"Well, I just mean that you seem too attached to her even if you just met in a short span of time." Gray waited for him to speak, but saw that Lyon didn't appear to have any intention of replying back. He decided to continue explaining further. "I mean, Meredy and I have interacted before and have already been in friendly terms. Plus, I'm quite concerned for her too since Ultear is like family to me. Meredy treated her like a mother, so if we go by the logic, she's like a niece to me. Sort of."

Lyon snorted. "I don't see her that way."

"That further proves my point."

It took several seconds for Lyon to answer. "Can't I be a good person, in general?"

"I'm not saying that, but I just thought…" Gray was frustrated already, feeling as though the conversation was going nowhere. "Ah, never mind."

"No, spill it out."

"It's nothing, but I think I saw something when both of you were riding the Ferris wheel. In my point of view, it seems like you're interested in her." When Lyon gave him another questioning look, Gray spoke further. "In _that_ sort of way."

Lyon froze for a few seconds before laughing out loud. "What the hell? Wild imagination you have, Gray."

The younger mage felt embarrassed. He shouldn't have said that; the comment felt like it was made by gossipy teenage girl. Because of this, he felt more frustrated, especially with the answers Lyon was giving. "I've explained my side, and you're evading the question. What are you to Meredy?"

Lyon was still chuckling, but it gradually faded when he saw the serious look on Gray's face. Truthfully, he knew exactly what Gray was asking about. It just felt fun feigning innocence and irritating Gray like that. Though at the back of his head, he also knew that he wasn't exactly sure what he felt for the Maguilty mage. All he knew was that seeing Meredy smile pleased him a lot, and somehow, made his heart feel warmer.

But he wasn't going to admit that to Gray. He wasn't some love-struck teenage girl who was sharing her feelings to her best friend.

And he wasn't even love-struck, right?

And Gray wasn't even his best friend.

"Well?" Gray tapped a finger impatiently. "Spill it out, Lyon."

Luckily for Lyon, their conversation was interrupted by the familiar voice. "Gray-sama!"

The younger ice mage turned his head to see a blue cloud of candy smashing directly into his face. "What the hell, Juvia?!"

"It's cotton candy!" she exclaimed pleasantly, "Let's share!" She then gobbled a portion of the candy which was in between their faces.

A smiling Meredy approached Lyon with her own pink treat, whilst holding the toy on the other arm, and reached out her cotton candy towards him. "We can share too, if you want."

Lyon gave her a bewildered look, as he glanced from her pink cotton candy, to the one in Juvia's hand. In Lyon's head, the sight of the two of them looked rather intimate since they were eating the treat face-to-face.

(Yet if one took a closer look, it was actually more of the cotton candy being forced onto Gray's face while Juvia contentedly ate.)

With that thought on his head, Lyon's own imagination placed him and Meredy in their position. Face rapidly flushing, Lyon covered his face and started walked away. _"Stupid Gray. It's his fault that I'm having these ideas."_

Several question marks raised on Meredy's head as she observed his retreating figure. The way of sharing the treat that she actually had in mind was just both of them pinching small portions from the cloud of candy. She merely shrugged and followed after him.

A few minutes later, she found herself being led to a particular street that was rather crowded with mages and non-mages alike. She stood beside Lyon, who seemed to be having second thoughts in going through the sea of people.

"What's wrong?" she inquired, munching her candy.

"Nothing. I'm just checking if there are any white-cloaks around. Also, let's wait for Gray and Juvia."

"Okay," she answered back. She attempted to offer him the remaining cotton candy again. "You sure you don't want any?"

He peeked at her from the side and saw the glob of pink cotton on a stick, which he had to confess, looked rather tasty. "Fine, thanks," he said as he grabbed the stick from her hand.

As Lyon stuck a piece of the candy in his mouth, he noticed Meredy was observing him, as if anticipating what his reaction would be. As the sweetness melted in his mouth, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable having her staring at him. "What?"

Her face appeared delighted, her cheeks pink and lips curled upwards. "Nothing."

While he had to admit that a face like that suited her more, seeing her with that expression distracted him even further and caused heat to rise up his face. Quickly, he pulled the stuff toy slightly above to cover her face, confusing the girl. "Huh?"

"Nothing," he said immediately, "We just have to be careful, someone might see you."

Meredy seemed convinced since she didn't question him any further, much to Lyon's relief. When Gray and Juvia reached them, they started walking towards the spot where there were lots of familiar faces. Soon, they joined the other Fairy Tail members, as well as the ones from Lamia Scale and Blue Pegasus, who were gathering at the middle of the street.

"Let's party!" Natsu exclaimed as he happily breathed out fire, causing some others to hurriedly evade it to prevent themselves from being burned.

"This brings back the memories!" Lucy shared, to which a lot from the alliance nodded as they cheered.

Lyon also appreciated how everyone was together once more even after all those years, though he wasn't expressing it as loud as the others. When he looked at Meredy, who was just smiling at the merriment before her, the ice mage took the initiative to briefly explain things to her. "Before, we formed an alliance with Fairy Tail and Blue Pegasus to defeat a dark guild."

"I think I've heard of that one before," Meredy said, lowering the stuff toy to look at him better, "Oracion Seis, right?"

"Yeah."

For the next couple of minutes, everyone seemed really contented in conversing with one another about the most random things. Soon, the sky turned dark and the place was illuminated by the lamp posts as well as the lights from the buildings.

Everything seemed well.

Until the street lights suddenly went out, causing a lot of people to shriek. Lyon, out of impulse, immediately grabbed Meredy's arm, causing her to squeak in surprise. He apologized and held her closer, wary of a possible danger looming.

"What's going on?!" He heard Natsu say, as he used his hand to create a makeshift torch, which slightly illuminated the place better.

Just then, everyone stopped what they were doing when the magical speakers turned on once more. "Ladies and gentlemen! This is Mirajane! Some might have thought that today's program is already over, but you're wrong! The fun is just starting!"

Then, a spotlight appeared on one of the buildings beside the street, revealing three figures—Mirajane, Freed, and Laxus. The three looked rather ominous, especially Mira who seemed to be in Satan Soul mode.

"Tonight, we are going to have a game! This game is actually an extension of our booths, so please listen carefully!" With a snap of a finger, the lights from the lamp posts returned. "Now, look at the ground you're stepping on; notice the purple lines drawn on the floor! They form a box, and if you are inside of it, you are included in the game! Those who do not wish to participate, feel free to step out of the purple lines!"

Just then, several people started running away from said purple box. Lyon and Meredy didn't move from their spot, as they watched how the others only ended up bumping themselves on a transparent wall.

Natsu was one of the unfortunate ones, and rubbed his sore nose. He started punching the invisible barrier which prevented him from going outside. "What the hell?! Not this again!"

From above, Freed chuckled darkly. "Sorry, but it is compulsory for Fairy Tail members to join."

"Right now, you are witnessing Freed's Fun Jail booth!" Mirajane cheerfully said.

Lyon gazed over the non-Fairy Tail members. Ichiya also began speaking. "Men! I don't like the sound of this game. Let's go outside!" Subsequently, the Trimens followed their ace as they attempted to go out of the box.

"I don't like the sound of this too." Lyon looked troubled, and held Meredy's arm again. "Let's get out of here as well. It's too risky here."

The Maguilty mage nodded and trailed after him.

But before they could head out, they also found themselves stuck inside the invisible cage.

"Whoopsies! I'm sorry," Mirajane spoke with a feigned apologetic tone, "but it wouldn't be fun if there were only a few people participating! So, now, we're changing the rules a bit. You are automatically included in the game if you're a mage 17 years old and up!"

"At least Chelia's safe," Meredy said as she watched Chelia, along with Wendy and Romeo, stepping out of the invisible box.

Lyon turned to her. "How about you, though? How old are you?"

Meredy bit her lip. "18."

They head Mirajane speak once more. "Next is the fun part!"

Suddenly, small jolts of lightning struck on different areas inside the box, causing the mages to evade them; from above, Laxus smirked.

Mirajane continued. "Don't worry, I asked Laxus to minimize the voltage of each shock, so it would only hurt a bit if you get hit! But if you are able to survive this challenge, you'll be qualified for the next round of the game!"

"I seriously doubt that it would only hurt 'a bit!'" Gray shouted, evading a bolt.

"What the heck are you planning, Mira?!" Erza exclaimed, as she easily jumped from one lightning strike.

Lyon could find himself sharing the sentiment of the other Fairy Tail members stuck inside. He was standing in the middle of the box as he witnessed some mages being hit by the small lightning bolts. Even though he knew that they were very much alive, he still cringed at how they ended up lying on the ground after being struck.

Distracted, he didn't notice that a bolt was being directed at him from above. He didn't perceive it until he heard Meredy's voice. "Look out!"

Briskly he looked up and saw a quick ray of light about to strike him, but it never hit him, because the next thing he knew, a gust of air was pushed out of his lungs and he was on the ground. He groaned in pain as he felt the weight of somebody on top of him.

"Are you okay?" the voice which he knew belonged to Meredy asked. The weight was lifted from him as she shifted to a sitting position.

He slowly opened his eyes to see her face without the blue glasses, which he assumed was knocked off due to the impact from earlier. "Yeah. Thanks."

Meredy helped him stand up to his feet, and it was then when Lyon realized how a few of them were left—there were Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Juvia, Erza, Ichiya, and some other Fairy Tail members which he couldn't name.

"Now we move onto the last part of the game! I have Laxus here to help me randomly sort you into pairs for the final round. Those who are standing beside you are now your partners!"

"Partners? What do you mean by partners?" Natsu inquired, as he looked at the person nearest him. It was Gray.

"Yes! W-what do you mean?" Juvia said, almost afraid of what she might hear. She hesitantly looked beside her to see that Lucy was the one closest to her.

Mirajane giggled playfully. "Oh, you should know what it means already. My booth is all about matchmaking, after all!" She then lowered her voice, raising her eyebrows at the pairs below them. "Although… The match-ups made by Laxus weren't exactly the ones I had in mind." She eyed Natsu with Gray, and Lucy with Juvia in particular.

"What?!" the water mage shouted. "Juvia doesn't want to be partners with Lucy-san! She'd rather be with Gray-sama!" Juvia then stood up and started jogging towards the ice mage, only to crash onto another invisible wall.

"Sorry, the pairs have been decided," Freed interjected, "You will be stuck inside the smaller jail with your partner."

"How do we get out?" Gray asked as calmly as possible.

"You must satisfy the criteria that we planned!" Freed declared, smirking.

"What criteria is that?!" Ichiya screamed excitedly, "Does it have something to do with love?!"

"Oh hell no," Erza yelled disgustingly, keeping as much distance from her partner.

Mirajane clasped her hands together excitedly. "You must kiss the person for five seconds!"

"If not, you'll be stuck in jail with your partner until midnight! Not only that," Freed raised a hand sideways, revealing the electric chair which was behind Laxus, "both of you will be punished through Laxus's special chair!"

"It's settled, then." Erza sat on the ground with her legs crossed. "Electric chair it is."

"Kiss?!" Juvia collapsed on the ground in despair. "This was Juvia's chance! Why does she have to be stuck with Lucy-san?!"

"Don't make it sound like you're the only one not enjoying this situation," Lucy stressed, scratching her head weakly.

"I'D CHOOSE THE ELECTRIC CHAIR TOO!" Natsu and Gray barked, not facing each other as they crossed their arms at the same time.

While the others were arguing on what they would do in their own transparent cages, Lyon and Meredy looked surprisingly calm inside theirs.

Though, that was only what it looked like on the outside, since Lyon was actually having an internal turmoil on what was needed to be done. _"What the hell is happening…Kiss…?" _His heart was starting to throb faster, and he felt annoyed.

On the other hand, Meredy didn't seem to be having the same internal conflict as he did. Instead, she merely touched the invisible barrier with one hand. "You know… The feeling of this barrier…it's similar to the ones that caged Jellal…"

The statement snapped Lyon back to momentary calmness. "Is that so…?"

Then, a lot of cheering was heard from the audience, which garnered both of their attention. They searched for what seemed to be reason for it, and found out that a couple was released from their cage.

"What, did they actually kiss?" Lyon asked, to which Meredy only shrugged.

"Aww! It seems like Elfman kissed Evergreen on the forehead!" Mirajane tilted her head slightly. "My little brother is really growing up!"

"So it doesn't necessarily have to be a _kiss_!" Lyon quickly said, grabbing Meredy's hand, "I could just kiss you on the hand—"

But his line of thought was disrupted when another round of cheering was heard. Another barrier dispersed and Lucy and Juvia were free.

"So Lucy played safe by kissing Juvia's hand!" Mirajane covered her mouth. "I think it's still pretty sweet!"

"Tch, they're fast." Lyon gritted his teeth. "Well, I could still kiss you on the hand—"

However, Mirajane heard him, so she swiftly interrupted. "We'll have an additional rule! If a pair has already kissed a certain part of the body, the other pairs aren't allowed to kiss that part now! In this case, the remaining pairs aren't allowed to kiss on the hands and forehead anymore!"

Lyon dropped her hand. "Shit."

"Well, how about you kiss my foot, then," Meredy joked.

Natsu heard her, and suddenly had an idea. "Gray, come on! Kiss my foot!"

A vein popped on Gray's forehead. "As if, Dim-wit flame! Why do I have to do the kissing? You kiss my foot!"

"What should we do, then?" Meredy turned to him, as she started to adjust her boot. "We better be fast, or Natsu and Gray would do it before us."

However, before he could reply, some murmurs from the audience near them caught their attention. "The Magic council's approaching?"

"Aw, they might spoil the fun!" the other replied. "They should start kissing! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"

And much to his surprise, everyone from the audience started chanting along, increasing the pressure for the people who were inside the barrier. Natsu and Gray didn't seem fazed though, as they continued fighting on who should kiss who.

Lyon clenched his fist. "Hey, we should—" he started saying, but noticed how she had a fearful look in her eyes again. He followed the direction of what she was gazing at, and indeed, it was something that didn't scream good news especially for her.

He didn't know if it what he was feeling right then was pressure and panic combining from the chants of the audience, or the thought of the impending danger upon Meredy when he caught sight of the white-robed councilmen.

The chanting went on._ "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"_

He gave another quick glance at Meredy, whose humour from earlier faded upon seeing the councilmen. Her mouth was slightly opened in distress and her hands were shaking.

_"Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!"_

In that very moment, the pressure and panic increased fourfold. Various emotions overloaded him, and he cursed inwardly when even his unresolved feelings for Meredy surfaced. He shook the feeling off and tried to focus.

He had to act fast.

He only did what he thought was the most logical thing to do at that very moment.

Without warning, he abruptly pulled her shoulders towards him and kissed her squarely on the lips.

Collective gasps were heard from around them.

It was a quick kiss, and the action barely registered on Meredy's head until the very last second.

Five seconds had passed, and as soon as the barrier dispersed, Lyon pulled away and grabbed her hand, dragging her away from the scene, opposite the direction of the councilmen.

A moment of silence occurred before the crowd erupted into thunderous cheers and applause, along with heartfelt whistles.

Mirajane was speechless, yet she was very happy. "Now, that was something that we didn't expect."


	13. Chapter 13

They made another turn towards one of the streets. Meredy's hand was connected with his due to his firm grasp on her wrist. Everything was moving fast and the surroundings were a blur, but her feet only scurried after him, following wherever he intended to go.

Her mind in disarray with the recent happenings, she tried to reorganize her thoughts by recalling the immediate events that had happened previously.

_A game…_

…_Trapped…_

…_Lightning bolts striking…_

…_Transparent cage…_

…_Hands pulling her forward, her head turning..._

And then, a memory of his lips crushing through hers flashed in her head. Eyes widening, her heart started skipping even faster and she knew that it wasn't from the running.

None of them spoke the moment they left the busy crowd, so it stunned Lyon when he heard her say, "Wait."

He instantly complied by slowing down, and coming to a full stop at a park with a large, circular fountain in the middle. Luckily for them, they reached a place where there wasn't a single person around, and the environment was surreal with the quietness of the night, which was very much unlike the area packed with people earlier.

Gently letting go of her hand, Lyon didn't turn around, having his back facing her. Not that it mattered, since Meredy wasn't looking at him the same, opting to stare at the ground.

Subconsciously, she slowly lifted her scarf to cover the bottom part of her face, still feeling flustered about the whole thing. "Ah, I…" Meredy then found herself out of words to speak. What was she supposed to say? She wasn't looking directly at him, but she saw how he shifted his feet to finally face her. "I left the stuffed toy," she said lamely.

Lyon's brows twitched. Of all the things that were going on in his head, those were the words that he was least expecting from her. He observed how she was attempting to conceal her face. "Just… forget about it."

Whether he was pertaining about the stuffed toy or the kiss, Meredy wasn't sure. No one spoke for the next few moments, and only the scuffling of the trees with breeze of the night was heard. Both remained standing while facing each other, yet she still refused to look at him.

Lyon finally decided that he should be the one to start saying something. "I'm sorry."

The statement seemed surprised Meredy as he observed an abrupt rising of her shoulders.

"I'm sorry," he repeated, looking away, "because I panicked. And I shouldn't have done that—"

"What are you talking about?" she suddenly interrupted, her hand still on the scarf, "It's okay. At least we got out right away."

Before Lyon got to say anything back, the Maguilty mage excused herself immediately to the drinking fountain nearby, leaving him trailing his eyes on her withdrawing figure. With a sigh, he headed towards a nearby bench and sat on it, burying his head on his hands.

"_Why did it turn out like this?" _he asked himself, rubbing his forehead. Sure, he was losing his nerves in that moment, but he never intended to do something like that. Back then, she was facing sideways, so he thought it was a perfect opportunity to just kiss her on the cheek. However, she must have been startled when he hastily pulled her towards him. It was all an accident. _"I should've warned her. Stupid, stupid…"_

From his face, one of his hands travelled its way towards his mouth. On his part, he had to admit that the experience wasn't really bad. If her feelings were not being considered, he would've actually been proud of himself…

…And yet here he was, worrying of what she was thinking at that very moment. He had just confirmed that she was still a teenager, and he was well-aware how emotionally fragile girls in that age group were. He buried his face onto his hands once more.

But then again, she wasn't just an ordinary teenager. She even said it herself: it was okay. In addition to that, her lips were soft and warm and—_"Agh, stop it, Lyon!" _he mentally scolded himself_, "She was telling you to kiss her foot in the first place, for crying out loud. Of course it wasn't okay."_

While Lyon was still sorting out his thoughts, on the other side, Meredy was starting to lean on the drinking fountain. She pushed the metallic switch, allowing water to spray out of the nozzle. The moment the cold splash of water came in contact with her lips, she abruptly released the button, halting the flow of water. She brought her fingers towards her mouth, her cheeks flushing red.

The feeling was reminiscent of the coolness of his touch.

Abruptly, she felt the heat rising up her face once more. Frustrated for having those weird feelings again, she brashly loosened her scarf and pulled off her bonnet, releasing the long pink tresses. She pushed the switch once more and opted to splash the water on her face instead, cooling it down.

"Calm down, Meredy," she whispered to herself, "This isn't like you. You've experienced far worse than this. This isn't even a life-or-death situation; you shouldn't lose your cool!"

With water still dripping down her face, she grinned, trying to think of something else other than _that incident._

"You're supposed to be the master of emotions!" she finally uttered with determination, clutching the bonnet in her hands tight. After making sure that she was calm enough to mask the whirlpool of emotions inside her, she stood straight and then marched back towards the ice mage.

When Lyon heard footsteps approaching, he breathed out heavily before bringing his hands down. _"Okay, time to face her again_." He was expecting her to have the same ruffled appearance but was surprised to see the sight before him. True, she actually looked messier this time—her face was dripping with water, her hair was all over the place, and her scarf was dangling loosely over her shoulders—but what really caught his attention was her cheerful face.

"So, what's our plan for tonight?" she inquired, her eyes closed but mouth still beaming.

He was actually prepared to apologize once more, but seeing that she did not really seem affected about it anyway, he decided to drop the issue and reply. "It's getting late. We should settle in for the night. We'll meet with Fairy Tail first thing in the morning."

"Okay… So are we heading back to your town?" The thought didn't really thrill Meredy; if they were indeed going back, it would mean that she'd be staying at Chelia's place once more. If she was to be honest, she didn't really want to face her after that incident, or heck, anyone else who witnessed the whole thing.

Unbeknownst to her, Lyon didn't feel like confronting anyone else too. "No, we'll stay here. We'll just find an inn."

Meredy thought that it was a good idea at first, but suddenly remembered something. "Oh, but I don't have enough money…"

"Don't worry, it's on me." He stood up from the bench. "Consider it... as an apology gift for what I've done earlier."

She couldn't really argue with that. "Alright," she said, as she started walking. When she sensed him not following, she turned her head to see him giving her a weird look. "Is something wrong?"

He approached her and had the sudden urge to wipe her face with his sleeves but immediately drew his hand back, remembering their _situation_. "Your face," he voiced instead, gesturing at his own, "Your hair too."

She gave him a momentary shocked expression before drying her face with the scarf and placed the bonnet over her head, without concealing the long locks inside like before. It was dark anyway, no one would really notice much, she thought. Lyon also didn't seem to mind it.

They walked away from the park in silence and headed towards the nearest inn. Unfortunately for them, it was fully booked. The staff explained that it was due to a number of people having reservations because of Fairy Tail's three-day event. Similar answers were obtained from other lodgings they went to. To make matters worse, it started raining while they were on the way towards the last inn which was far enough from the festival area.

"Let's hope we're lucky this time," Lyon said, shielding his head from the rain.

Meredy only nodded in response as they hurriedly entered the inn.

Lyon wasted no time and immediately approached the receptionist. "Two rooms, please."

"I'm sorry sir," the female receptionist replied forlornly, "but we only have one room available."

Lyon clicked his tongue. _"Guess we aren't so lucky after all."_ He thought of going to the rest of the inns around Magnolia, but that would risk them being seen by others more. He glanced at the glass entrance and saw that the rain didn't have any intention of stopping any time soon. Near the window, he also saw a shivering Meredy who was rubbing her hands on her upper arms.

Since all odds were against looking for another place, he decided what he had to do. "We'll take it."

As soon as the keys were handed, they headed for the room which was on the third floor. On the way, Lyon began explaining why they had to share a room. Meredy seemed to understand and didn't really voice out any concerns about it.

Moments later, they finally reached their assigned room. Overall, it looked pretty plain; there was a queen-sized bed, a small couch, some chairs, and a television. A glass door which gave access to a small balcony was also present.

"You go to the shower first," he said, doffing his white coat, "You might catch a cold."

"But what about you?" She eyed his dripping tunic as she began removing her soaked bonnet.

He smirked. "Heh, I was trained to stand the cold, remember?"

"Oh, right!" She entered the bathroom and held the door's edge. "Don't worry, I won't be long!"

Upon hearing the slam of the bathroom door, Lyon began taking off his top and proceeded to hang his drenched clothing over one of the chairs. He glanced at the balcony and saw that it was still raining.

"This has been a long, long day," he uttered in a tired tone, as he grabbed the remote from the desk and turned on the television.

The news channel was on, and reports indicate that some isolated rain showers and thunderstorms would occur over the area of Magnolia and surrounding towns until early morning.

Shrugging at the forecast, Lyon lied casually on the couch and crossed his legs. He began fumbling inside bag, searching for something to dry himself.

Meanwhile, Meredy was already inside the shower and was soaking herself with warm water. It felt great, she thought, as the sensation calmed her.

She released a sigh.

Though they were actually within each other's vicinity, she felt relieved that at least for the time being, there were walls that separated Lyon and her. She placed a hand over her chest and felt the rapid beating of her heart.

"_I'll be here for you, Meredy."_

His words echoed once more in her head, and she recalled that certain memory at the festival grounds. It was actually during that time that she first started feeling those foreign emotions.

And then she remembered how their lips came in contact with each other. Those _weird _feelings intensified once more, so she banged a fist on the tiled walls in frustration.

"What's with you, Meredy?" she mumbled to herself, "That doesn't mean anything! He only did what he had to do." She decided not to think why it had to be her lips of all the parts on her face, but she convinced herself that he didn't really mean to because he was really panicking.

She suddenly remembered that he was waiting outside, and while he indeed was an ice mage who was used to low temperatures, she hadn't read anything about them being immune to common colds. She quickly began the process of bathing, taking the shampoo bottle and soap.

Outside, Lyon was strolling through different channels with a bored look on his face.

"_Oh no, a monster is eating building!—" _

Click.

"_A really, really great price! Buy now for only 99.99 jewels—"_

Click.

"_Now ranking 5__th__ on 'The Wizard I'd Like to Be My Boyfriend' is—" _

Click.

"_We've known each other for years! Don't you love me—"_

Click.

"_What does the fox say?—"_

Click.

Using his other hand, Lyon lazily rubbed a small towel draped over his head. None of the shows were interesting enough for him.

"_RAAAAUUGHHHRH!"_

Click.

"_Now you're tuning in for the daily report on Fairy Tail's Festival event!—" _

Click.

"_The horoscope for today—"_

"Wait." He immediately pressed the 'previous' button, settling for the showbiz channel.

"_Jason here! Today we'll be narrating the cool highlights of today's event! We've had a small dance program in the morning followed by the various booths manned by the Fairy Tail members themselves! A really cool and spectacular bunch, aren't they? One of the most visited booths includes Iron Dragon Slayer Gajeel's Ferris Wheel! Totally cool!"_

A recorded video of Gajeel's interview was flashed on the screen.

"_So how are things going?" _the interviewer asked.

Gajeel gave him an annoyed look and turned back._ "Fuck off."_

"_Uwah, totally cool, isn't he? Look at the bunch of people in the line!" _

The video went over some people and Lyon felt his heart skipping a beat when he saw a glimpse of the two of them in line.

"_However, the greatest, coolest highlight of today was a surprise by Fairy Tail's Mirajane, along with Freed and Laxus!"_

Lyon stopped rubbing his head, intent on watching the rest of the news, though at the same time, he was almost fearful of what he might hear.

"_It was totally the coolest, most unexpected twist that happened today! Various mages from Fairy Tail and other guilds participated and not one of them totally knew what they were expecting to happen!"_

"What are you watching?" Meredy emerged from the bathroom wearing an oversized bathrobe. She held her damp clothes in one hand, while the other was drying her hair with a smaller towel.

"_Great timing_," he dismally thought. He chose not to respond and instead let the program answer for him.

"_Initially, they were trapped by Freed Justine's Jutsu Shiki magic and then eliminated one-by-one by Dragon Slayer Laxus' minimal voltage lightning bolts! Morbid, but still pretty cool, nonetheless!"_

Meredy's hands slowly dropped by her sides when she realized what they were watching.

"_Now you'll see the totally, totally cool twist I was talking about! After being sorted into pairs, the condition in order to be free was to kiss their partner! Kiss! How cool was that?! Now, I have to inform you viewers that the game was suspended when the Magic Council appeared. Now we have Head Captain Lahar to explain why they had to intervene!"_

"_The game seems a bit dangerous," the bespectacled councilman stated, "We heard lightning strikes being concentrated on one spot, and it was something that we couldn't overlook for the safety of the citizens."_

The video then showed footage of Rune Knights going over each participant of the game. Meredy cringed. With the vast number of soldiers over the area, she was suddenly thankful for Lyon despite what he did.

"_However! Not all of the fun was spoiled, since we got to see other pairs fulfilling the condition even before the Magic Council came!"_

The two of them froze when the screen started displaying a video footage of Elfman and Evergreen escaping the cage first, followed by Juvia and Lucy.

"_They are so lovely, aren't they? We were deeply excited with the developments that happened in this span of time! However, the highest, COOLEST highlight of all was done by the famous Ice-Make mage, Lyon Vastia and his secret partner! They kissed the coolest kiss!"_

Both of them unknowingly held their breaths. Meredy felt her cheeks growing hot again.

"_But unfortunately, we weren't able to take a video of them due to the people panicking about the Magic Council! Totally uncool!"_

As if on cue, the two of them sighed in relief at the same time.

"_The identity of the girl remains a mystery at first, so we tried asking several people from the audience if they knew who she was."_

"At—at first?" Meredy repeated. Her heart sunk. She couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Don't worry," he assured her, "I'm sure no one would tell you out." He greatly trusted his comrades, and he was sure even Gray and company cared enough for her. Though he had to admit, it made him nervous thinking the other possiblity.

"_It was hard to find someone who knew, since even those from Lamia Scale, Yuka Suzuki and Toby Horhorta, admitted that they did not know! Desperate, we even asked from Fairy Tail, but apparently they have no clue as well!"_

Lyon wrinkled his brow. "Then who…?"

"_And guess what! We found information from someone we least expected! Ace of Mermaid Heel, Kagura Mikazuchi!"_

Meredy's jaw dropped. "Ah?"

"_I met her. Her name is Mary, a distant relative of Chelia Blendy," _the female mage said with a straight face.

"_Uwaaah! A relative of Chelia, the cool and cute Sky God Slayer? Too bad I don't see her around to ask her personally! Thank you, Kagura-san! That's all for tonight! We intend to interview Lyon-san tomorrow so we'd get information directly from him! Or if we get lucky, we could interview Mary-san herself! Stay tuned!"_

The credits started rolling, which made Lyon turn the television off.

He inwardly cursed. It was enough that Meredy was already being pursued by the Magic Council; now they both had to worry about some paparazzi trailing after them?

Meredy seemed to recover easily. "Um, it's your turn," she said, pointing at the bathroom. She was obviously trying to evade his gaze, as she placed some of her hair behind her ear. _"Why does he always have to strip?"_

Strangely enough, he noted that it was the first time that he saw her without earmuffs. He stood up. "Alright. By the way, the couch is mine. You take the bed." He gave her no time to argue as he headed towards the bathroom without looking back.

Meredy pouted. "Fine."

She placed her clothes on another chair to dry before jumping onto the soft bed.

"It's actually very comfy here," she mused as the mattress slowly sunk around her figure, "Lucky me, then!" She sat up and took the remote control, turning the television on once again. The screen displayed a cartoon show. Contented, she placed the remote on the side desk and slid inside the comforters.

Minutes later, Lyon emerged from the bathroom in a bathrobe similar to hers. He showed her an amused look when he saw what she was watching.

Meredy smiled in a silly manner. "I miss watching these types of shows."

Lyon chuckled a bit as he sat on the couch. Soon, the ice mage found himself engrossed in the cartoon program as well. Once in a while, he would glance at his companion when she would chortle at the antics of the show. It was then when he realized that she was just a child at heart.

When the show ended, she reached for the remote and turned the TV off, making only the sound of the rain audible in the room. "I'm going to turn off the lights now," she spoke, reaching for the switch beside the bed.

His eyes were already closed and he had his hands behind his head. "Sure."

Upon hearing his approval, she switched the lights off, engulfing the room in darkness. The only source of light was from the lampposts on the street by the balcony.

From time-to-time, Meredy shifted her body, trying to find a comfortable position. She really wasn't sleepy yet, and it didn't help that the darkness provoked her mind to have more unnecessary reflections in life.

With the recent events, all her thoughts only led to one certain ice mage who happened to be on the same room she was in.

"_Stop thinking of him, Meredy!" _she shifted her position again._ "It's not like he has any feelings for you or anything! Don't mistake his kindness for something entirely different!"_

She desperately wanted to use Sensory Link to confirm his feelings, just to have some peace of mind.

But that would mean that her strong emotions would connect with his as well, thereby indirectly confessing that she was having those weird feelings for him.

"Can't sleep?" she heard him say, causing her to recoil.

Meredy wasn't facing him, but he saw how obviously stiff she was from the illumination from the balcony. He wasn't sleepy himself, so he actually witnessed her countless shambling as soon as the lights were turned off.

"Yeah," he heard her reply back. "Sorry, was I too noisy moving around?"

Lyon sniggered. "A little."

"Sorry," she reiterated, turning again to face him. He was still positioned similarly as before.

"Don't be. I really wasn't sleepy to begin with."

"Oh." She pulled the covers up until the half of her face. "Something's just bothering me, is all."

"Oh, really?" he retorted back, though he wasn't really surprised. Who, in her position, would not be bothered by everything that had happened? He hesitantly continued, "Want to talk about it?"

She wanted to ask him something else, something that had to do with validating what he felt, but she could not urge herself to do so. "Your fan girls."

"Tch." She really had this habit of surprising him, he thought. "What about them?"

"You must've broken lots of hearts with what you did."

He snickered a bit. "That's great, then. That should stop them from following me around."

She smiled sheepishly. "And you know…"

"Hm?"

"You should've at least warned me. I didn't even get to kiss you back. Good night!" And she turned away from him, ending the discussion.

Lyon was speechless. Now _that_ caught him off guard. With the tone of her voice, he knew that she was probably attempting to make the situation less awkward by joking around. But it had an entirely opposite effect on him when he realized that he was already blushing. Crossing his arms, he shut his eyes completely and attempted to sleep.

Soon, he noticed that she stopped her shuffling movements, and was already peacefully sleeping. He found himself drifting to sleep afterwards, the sounds of the raindrops lulling him to slumber.

However, the peacefulness only went on for the first few hours, and changed when crashes of thunder were heard from the outside. The noises slightly startled Lyon, but what jolted him awake was seeing Meredy's silhouette nervously fumbling through the bed desk. He only observed her through squinted eyes, and watched how she slowly sat up and started moving away from her bed.

It made Lyon sit up from the couch. "Hey, where are you…"

But before he could finish asking, a blaze of lightning hit an area at the street below their balcony, momentarily lighting the room with great brightness. Instantly, Meredy shrunk on the carpeted floor, dropping onto a fetal posture. She also had her hands covering her ears.

Seconds later, a brash thunder resonated throughout the room, lightly shaking the area. At the same time, Meredy whimpered loudly, causing Lyon to sprint towards her in worry.

"What's wrong?" He knelt down and firmly held her trembling shoulders. At first, he assumed that she was afraid of lightning, but then he recalled that she didn't seem frightened of Laxus' lightning bolts during the game.

"E-earmuffs…" she weakly muttered, hands still over her ears. Another thunder strike reverberated and Meredy reflexively huddled closer to Lyon, seeking refuge.

He was startled at the contact at first, but he gradually held her even closer, placing his hands over hers protectively. The quivering lessened progressively, though she still flinched whenever thunder resounded.

Lyon remembered last seeing her mufflers by the sink, so he gently guided her towards the bathroom. He then took the accessory and assisted her in donning it over her ears. It made her calmer, though she was noticeably trying to suppress her tears.

He was still close to her, his hands remaining over her ear mufflers. He gave her a reassuring smile. "It's going to be okay."

She lightly nodded her head, and allowed him to lead her back to her bed. She lied back on her spot as Lyon draped the comforters over her. He said nothing else as he sat on the edge of the bed, looking at her with concern.

Staring at the ceiling, she began speaking. "I have extremely sensitive ears. They said I had this even when I was a child."

Lyon made no comment, and only nodded in acknowledgement.

"I grew up in an orphanage. There were lots of children my age, but I never had any friends at first since my ears were too sensitive. I would only cry whenever someone would attempt to speak or play with me, and I preferred being alone since it calmed my auditory system. Soon, our caregivers learned about my condition and gave me some regular ear mufflers. It reduced the noise I hear, so I finally was able to tolerate playing with others."

She paused for a moment and closed her eyes.

"However, I wasn't able to be friends with them long enough because a dark guild attacked my hometown. Somehow, I survived and I was the only one left, but the whole experience was very traumatizing…"

She brought one hand over one side of her earmuffs.

"The explosions, the blasts that occurred during the destruction were too much for my ears, even if I was wearing my mufflers… I even remember Ur telling me that I won't stop crying when they found me."

She laughed a bit at the memory.

"Afterwards, Grimoire Heart took me in, and I was given a special set of headgear which covered my ears. It helped in regulating my hearing perceptions better. Our former master told me that I shouldn't consider this sensory sensitivity as a negative thing. It was more of a skill, if trained well, so he also thought it was perfect for me to learn the lost magic of Maguilty Sense."

She brought her hand down and held the edge of the comforter.

"When Ur and I left Grimoire Heart, we started training on our own. She tried to get me accustomed to various noises of higher volumes, and soon, my tolerance increased, and I didn't need the special headgear anymore. However, since I'm still mastering my ability in controlling the noises I perceive, I still need the help of regular earmuffs, until now."

Lyon only observed her, trying to digest her revelations.

"To be honest, I just felt frightened because," she paused, and gave an embarrassed laugh, "the crashes from earlier reminded me of the destruction of my hometown. It was dark, noises were everywhere, and I was left alone…"

"There is one big difference, though," Lyon finally spoke, causing Meredy to look at him, "I've said this before. This time, you aren't alone." He gave her a smile. "I'm here, right?"

Meredy gave him a stunned look, but in the end, she found herself smiling back.

"Now sleep," he commanded, raising the comforters until reached her shoulders. "We have to wake up early tomorrow. We have to avoid those paparazzi, somehow."

She giggled a bit, but she complied by closing her eyes. She slid a hand from the covers to place it on top of his. "Thank you, Lyon, for everything."

Her hand felt warm over his cool one. He stared at it momentarily, before shifting his hand and lightly squeezing it in regard. "Of course. Good night."

* * *

**A/N: **So here's the back story of Meredy's earmuffs! :3 Also, more interactions for Lyon/Meredy! (I just hope this chapter wasn't too cheesy. Haha.) By the way, have you guys read the recent chapter? I was quite surprised with the number of deaths and...asdfgjkl my feelings. Considering what happened to the Magic Council now, I figured the timeline for this story begins a few months after the Grand Magic Games Arc, and before the Tartaros Arc.

And that's all for now! Many thanks to the new story followers and favers! Thank you also to An Angel's Soft Whispers, kukailover, PFA and Sylvermist for the reviews! :3


	14. Chapter 14

Meredy fluttered her eyes open as she felt the rays of the sun hitting her face. Another morning arose, and it wasn't raining anymore.

Somehow, the sunshine reminded her of Ultear, the person who raised her, the light who lifted her from shambles when everything seemed dark and in disarray.

But now that she was gone, the sunrise only reminded her that another day had passed where she should go on living without her.

She sighed.

She shifted her head opposite the balcony and saw Lyon, who was slouched beside her on bed—his back was leaning against the headboard and his head was slightly tilted sideways. Nonetheless, he was sleeping peacefully. His breathing was quiet and even.

"Whatever happened to you taking the couch?" she whispered, though she didn't really expect a reply in return. She let out an inaudible laugh.

She tried moving up her body but suddenly felt a light mass resting upon her right hand. Eyes travelling downwards, she realized that her hand was loosely cupped inside his.

She simply stared at their intertwined hands for a few moments before slowly freeing her hand, careful not to wake him up. However, the little motions still stifled him awake, as his eyes began opening. At the last second, Meredy quickly slid the hand out to prevent any more awkward situations.

Luckily for her, Lyon was still groggy from sleep and seemed unaware of her previous predicament.

"Good morning," she managed to say, feigning an innocent smile.

He mumbled a greeting back while stretching his stiff neck sideways. "Sorry I slept here," he continued with no apparent emotion.

"After a kiss, now _we_ share a bed," she said in jest, "If those reporters knew this, they'd have field day!"

Lyon simply rolled his eyes and placed a palm on his face. "Ugh, which reminds me… Those pesky reporters—we're lucky if they haven't found this place yet."

"It's better if we start moving, then!" Meredy jumped out of the bed and frolicked to the chair, grabbing the dry clothes. "Let's get dressed and leave right away!" She advanced towards him and started pulling him out of the bed.

"You seem…very eager, early in the morning," he stated a matter-of-factly, as he allowed her to push him towards the bathroom.

"Not really, I'm really just used to waking up early and leaving a place immediately." She successfully placed him inside the bathroom and held the door knob. "You know, the nature of Crime Sorciere and all. Now get dressed!" And the door was slammed shut, leaving him no time to answer back.

Lyon gazed at the clothes on his hand, and then at the tiled surfaces of the bathroom. "Wait, shouldn't I be the one dressing outside..?"

He sighed.

Thinking that it didn't matter anyway, he started removing his robe and quickly donned his pants, only to realize that she didn't hand him his tunic.

Without thinking, he spun the door knob and headed outside, just in time to see her removing her own robe. Lyon let out a surprised grunt, causing Meredy to turn her head in shock and spontaneously cover her bare chest with the doffed robe.

"Aah—I didn't see anything!" he quickly retorted, whirling back. It was obviously a lie, since he was able to have a good view of her rear side, regardless of the long tresses covering almost half of her back. In particular, he saw a glimpse of her white underwear. His mind couldn't help but compare the contrasting colours of hers and the ones Juvia wore during the Grand Magic Games. Another piece of heaven, he thought. His face felt unusually hot.

Shuffling of clothes was heard behind him before she finally spoke. "You can turn around now."

Hesitantly, he pivoted his feet to face her again, but she was already wearing her dress. "Sorry about that."

She crossed her arms and gave him an amused smirk. "It's okay," she paused, "even if you're lying." When he expressed a shocked, questioning look, she began flailing her right arm, which had the familiar pink seal embedded on it.

Lyon looked at his own arm and saw that he was again connected with her through Sensory Link. "Hey!"

"'Piece of heaven,' huh?"

His face flushed in embarrassment. However, Lyon still crossed his arms stubbornly, clearly not pleased that she sneaked into his private thoughts. "It wasn't my fault that _you _dressed _here_. You should've been the one in the bathroom, not the other way around." He shut his eyes tight. "I personally wouldn't mind you barging out while I was still dressing."

Meredy brought her arms down and chuckled. It made sense, considering that he had no problems stripping in most unexpected circumstances, at least for her. "Fine. It's my fault then. I'm sorry."

Surprised that she gave in easily, he eyed her closely as she released her spell and approached him.

"You see, maybe I was just used to being with Ur and Jellal. Whenever the three of us shared a room, we have already arranged that Jellal fixes himself up inside the bathroom while Ultear and I dress at the much larger room outside."

He noted a distinctive change in her tone when she mentioned her two companions. It sounded as if she had a sad longing to see them again.

When she was a foot away from him, she abruptly hung his tunic over his head. "Still, that doesn't make you less of a pervert." She snickered. "Get dressed, old man."

He grabbed the clothing on his head and donned it easily. "Hmpf."

As soon as they fixed their belongings, they left the room and walked through the hallways.

"This is probably none of my business, but I'm just wondering," the ice mage said as they went down the stairs, "You usually spoke about your relationship with Ultear, but what about Jellal?" Lyon only knew of his reputation as a notorious villain who destroyed the council and fired the Etherion during his time. However, he did learn later on that they actually worked together, albeit indirectly, in defeating Oracion Seis. Lyon didn't know exactly how or when he had a change of heart, but it seemed that the ex-councillor remained being a good-natured individual until his recent disappearance.

"Jellal…" Her eyes appeared indecipherable, as she continued on her tracks. "He was just a victim of unfortunate circumstances, like Ultear."

"_Won't you consider yourself a victim as well_?" he mentally said, _"You're too modest..."_

She continued further as they reached the halls of the first floor. "We helped him escape prison. He was really distant at first, but lots of things can happen in seven years. Soon, I started considering him as an older brother I never had."

Lyon nodded, leading the way. "I see."

They were about to take a final turn to the lobby when Lyon stopped and backtracked quickly.

"Is something w—" Meredy was unable to continue when Lyon suddenly pulled her away and covered her mouth with his hand.

"Shh, they're here," he muttered cautiously.

Faint chattering sprung from the lobby, and Meredy already knew who he was talking about. He released his hand when she nodded in understanding.

"Is there another way out?" she mumbled quietly.

"I don't think so." Lyon surveyed the halls, and eyed the brittle-looking walls. "Unless we break something."

Meredy gave him a horrified look. "No! That'll cause more trouble!"

He chuckled. "I was kidding, of course. I'm not as reckless as that." He brought the key of their room with one hand. "Besides, I still need to check out."

"Ah, of course!" Meredy paused, and brought a hand on her chin. "Here's the plan. You still need to go to the lobby, so you preoccupy them. I'll find a way to escape."

He looked at her doubtfully. "And how would you do that?"

"Don't worry about that." She sneered with confidence, adjusting her bonnet and scarf. "Have you forgotten that I'm a criminal on the loose? I've done this a lot of times."

"Alright, if you say so. Let's meet at the alley nearest the park." He started walking towards the lobby. "Be careful, okay?"

She gave him a thumbs-up. "I'll be fine. I'm more worried about you actually. I don't think it's easy handling _them_."

He gave her a displeased look, indicating that he himself wasn't amused that he had to deal with them again, but he really had no choice. He finally made the turn and braced himself with the horde of nosy reporters coming his way.

"It's Lyon Vastia-san!"

"Finally!"

"Will you talk about Mary-san to us?"

"Where did the two of you meet?"

"Is it true that she's the next apple of your eye after your heart break with Juvia Lockser?"

"Weren't you with Sherry before? What's her say that you're dating her cousin?"

"What did you do after the game last night?"

"Should we be expecting a baby soon?"

He groaned in frustration as he made his way towards the receptionist, shooing them away as politely as he could. However, the reporters did not seem to be giving up easily.

"Where's Mary-san, anyway?" a female reporter asked, looking around the area.

"Is she there?" another inquired, pointing at the doorway towards the hall Meredy was in, causing Lyon's eyes to widen in panic.

"No, she's not," he countered back, ready to freeze the feet of the reporter. But it was too late, since the reporter already made the turn towards the hall. _"Shit."_

"She's not here!" the disappointed voice from the reporter announced, earning him collective thwarted sighs from the other media men. "No Mary-san around! It's just an old lady!"

Lyon let out a breath of relief. _"So she managed to escape…"_

Just then, the reporter emerged from the doorway, followed by slow-moving old woman the former was referring to. Lyon creased his brow as he saw the clothes worn by the old woman. Same scarf, bonnet, dress, cardigan—everything was exactly the same as Meredy's outfit, as he recalled at least. When the old lady was near the exit, she winked at him.

It suddenly dawned to him what she had done, so he proceeded to speak with the receptionist completely while dodging the invasive questions tossed at him. Soon, the reporters grew tired of his elusive answers and left him one by one.

When he was sure no one followed him any longer, he went off towards their meeting place and expected the same old lady he saw earlier. And true to his prediction, she was there.

"Took you long enough," the old lady said with an uncharacteristic tone of a young woman.

"Why didn't you tell me that you can use transformation magic?" Lyon stated, placing a hand on his waist, "That should've saved our efforts in giving you a disguise."

Meredy, in her old lady form, laughed. "That's because I only know the basics. Ur only taught me the simplest type, you see." She cheekily pointed at her untransformed clothes.

"Well, you better stay in that form until we meet up with Fairy Tail. While those media men have given up on me, I'm sure they haven't stopped their pursuit on 'Mary-san.'"

She nodded, leaning slightly forward to mimic a typical grandmother's kyphotic posture. She then coughed. "Yes, I think I can manage that," she said while faking an old lady's voice. This earned her an amused snort from the ice mage.

They both decided that Meredy would walk ahead with Lyon following a few meters behind. It was to avoid more suspicions from the passers-by, although a few people only lingered by the streets since it was still early in the morning.

They were one block away from the Fairy Tail guild house when the ground started rumbling, startling the people on the streets. Before anyone could react any further, a dark ray emerged from the sky, emitting a jarring noise at the same time, and struck an empty space at the middle of the street. The force from the blast however was too strong, causing the people near the area of detonation to fly outward, including Meredy. She was thrown helplessly on the cold ground further away from Lyon, making him run after her. He stopped midway when she lifted a hand, gesturing that she was okay.

An enormous amount of smoke spread from the blast area, fogging the surroundings. From the radius of the explosion, what it seemed like a human figure appeared. Tiny, dark creatures with wings in substantial numbers flew from behind of the silhouette.

Footsteps coming closer were heard, and Meredy, still in her old woman form, turned around to see Gray, followed by Lucy. Looking closely, she saw that Gray had the same shocked expression as the Stellar Spirit mage; however, unlike Lucy, whose expression was directed at the source of destruction of the street, Gray was staring at her.

Finger pointing at Meredy, Gray stuttered. "Y-you're—!"

A loud outburst interrupted him, and they shifted their heads towards the large figure, whose features became more apparent as the smoke cleared. The figure appeared to be a six feet tall man with pale skin. He was wearing a dark armoured robe with a gourd behind him, which seemed to be the source of the spreading creatures. The most distinct article on his body however was the circular tattoos on his face.

"Who are you?" Gray demanded, facing the newcomer, readying himself in offense. Lyon also stood in a similar stance.

"I am the guardian of Behemuth from Portico Dusk!" the man roared, as the dark creatures continued on spreading behind him, "Darkness will soon engulf this place. It is useless to resist, so stand back!"

"I don't think so!" Gray howled back, running towards the guardian. "Ice-Make: Sword!" An ice sword then materialized from his hand and was used to strike the enemy's arm. However, the blade did not cut through flesh and only bounced back. Gray widened his eyes. "What the?"

"Ice-Make: Eagle!" Lyon casted from behind him, but similar results were seen as the ice eagles only rebounded from his skin.

The guardian huffed angrily. "I told you to stand back! And it's useless to attack me; my body is made of impenetrable steel!"

Gray and Lyon stood beside each other, still determined. "As if we'd give up easily!" both said at the same time.

As the two mages continued attacking the dark mage, Lucy approached Meredy. "Are you okay, granny?" she asked and helped her up, still unaware of the latter's identity.

"Don't worry," the Maguilty mage replied, speaking in her normal voice, "It's me."

Lucy was stunned. "M-meredy?!"

Just then, a barrier of Magic Runes sprouted from the ground, creating a cage for everyone within the perimeter. "Fall back, enemy of the council! You cannot escape now," a firm voice announced. It was Lahar, who had just arrived with a few Rune Knights behind him.

Lyon fisted his hand as he let out another ice creature to attack their target. _"Damn it, more problems."_

"Arrrrgh!" The guardian hastily thwacked whatever ice spells directed at him. As soon as the last creature was released from the gourd, he appeared to quickly survey the surroundings and stopped at direction where Lucy and Meredy were. Unexpectedly, he came running towards them. "RAAAAUGHH!"

Lucy quickly held her keys. "Open the Gate of—AHH!" The guardian swatted the Stellar Spirit mage away effortlessly and grabbed Meredy by the shoulders.

Gray instantly came running towards his guild mate. "Lucy!"

"Meredy," Lyon muttered, eyes filled with both concern and alarm.

"Release the barrier!" The guardian's hand then transformed into a knife; he positioned it dangerously near the Maguilty mage's neck. "Or the old woman gets it!"

Lyon gazed at Lahar to see what he intended to do, but the latter looked equally troubled.

"D-don't make any sudden moves, everyone," the councilman announced, his eyebrows wrinkling.

Lyon shifted his eyes to Meredy and saw that she was looking back at him. Something in her eyes told him to do something.

Without thinking twice, he immediately slammed his hands together, disregarding what Lahar said. "Ice-Make: Wall!" Subsequently, massive walls of ice surrounded them, isolating Lyon and the guardian along with Meredy. The bold move momentarily distracted the dark mage, so Meredy took it as an opportunity to expertly curl out of his grasp and twist the guardian's elbow joint to his back.

"Sorry," Meredy said, as her hair transformed back into its original pink state. Her skin was also smoothing out, becoming less wrinkled. "But you messed with the wrong 'old woman.'"

With great force, she kicked the back of his knees making the dark mage plummet to the ground.

"Maguilty Sodom!" she casted, causing several large blades to emerge from her which passed through the guardian's hard steel skin, directly striking his pain receptors instead.

A shrill cry full of agony was heard inside the ice cage. The people outside the wall, including Gray and Lucy, could only drop their jaws.

"What in heaven's name is happening…?" Lahar could only comment, hesitant whether they should intervene or not.

Inside, Lyon gaped at how she singlehandedly defeated the dark mage. After making a mental note not to mess with her again, he created an opening on the wall which led towards an alley. "You should go," he whispered, remembering that Lahar was still behind the walls.

Meredy gave him a small nod. "Okay. I leave him to you!" She crouched under the hole and began withdrawing.

He eyed her retreating figure through the translucent ice before going over the man who was still howling in pain on the floor. He rumpled his brow. "What's left for me to do with him actually…?"

Minutes had passed, and soon, the Magic Council managed to take control of the whole situation. Lyon was taken in by Lahar as a primary witness of the occurrence. The ice mage complied without resistance.

News of the attack spread easily throughout Magnolia, and panic was prevented by the council who guaranteed the citizens of their protection. Because of this, Fairy Tail was also ordered to temporarily suspend their event, displeasing the master of the guild.

"I don't really like being commanded by the council on what I should do. This is _my_ guild, after all," Makarov admitted, crossing his arms.

"But in the end, you still followed them, Master," Erza pointed out.

"Of course," Makarov said, letting out an aggravated puff, "As much as I hate those white cloaks, I still have concern over the citizens. I believe this is for the best, considering those hoodlums attacked the town."

Meredy could only watch the exchange of the two powerful mages before her. Earlier, after escaping from Lyon's ice wall, she managed to pass through Lahar's barrier and sneak inside the Fairy Tail guild house. Erza had been the first to see her, who had been running errands the moment the guardian attacked. By the time she returned, everything had been settled and the 'party' was already over.

As soon as Meredy arrived, Erza brought her to Makarov. The guild master had spoken no word as he listened intently to the girls narrating the events concerning Portico Dusk. When they were done explaining, he placed a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "To be honest, I haven't heard of this 'Portico Dusk' before. But if it was able to harm someone like Jellal, this dark guild really poses a serious threat."

Meredy observed how Erza shifted uncomfortably when Jellal's name was mentioned. "Yes..."

Makarov went down from his stool and approached Meredy. He then held her hand, surprising the girl with his gesture. "Rest assured however, we would come to your aid. The dark guild has already attacked Magnolia, so it also brings danger to Fairy Tail. We'll bring down this dark guild together."

Meredy couldn't stop herself from smiling, grasping his hand back in happiness. "Thank you, Master Makarov!"

Makarov's expression then changed into a pleased, senile look as he continued shaking her hand. "Of course, of course! How could I also say 'no' to a beautiful young woman such as yourself?"

Erza grabbed Makarov's shoulder and attempted to nudge him away from the younger mage. "Masteeer," she uttered exasperatingly at her guild master's perversion.

"I have a concern though," Makarov mentioned, as he released her hand, face becoming serious once more, "The only problem is, we don't have any other leads regarding Portico Dusk as of now. We don't know exactly where to start. I might have to speak with the other guild masters."

"Lyon is being debriefed by the Magic Council at the moment," a male voice interjected, "We might get more information from him later."

"Gray," Erza regarded him as he stood next to her.

"We just have to wait for him, then," Makarov decided, crossing his arms once more.

Meredy turned to the ice mage with concern. "How's Lucy, by the way?"

"She's currently being tended to, though she only got some minor wounds. It still annoyed Natsu though. Looks like he's getting fired up to beat up those dark mages."

The Maguilty mage sighed in relief. "I see, good to hear that she's okay."

Gray nodded. "By the way, there's something I need to ask you—"

Hasty footsteps drawing near them however interrupted their conversation.

A frantic male voice exclaimed, "She's here?!"

They turned to see Mirajane and Freed sprinting towards the only mage from Crime Sorciere.

"We've been looking all over for you!" Mirajane cried out, as she and Freed knelt down in front of the younger mage.

"W-why?" The Maguilty mage could only look at them in confusion. They weren't the council or paparazzi, right? What could they possibly need from her?

"We came here to apologize," Freed said awkwardly, looking away from her.

"We had no idea how we almost put you in imminent danger last night." Mirajane held her hand apologetically. "If Lyon hadn't pulled that stunt immediately, the council might have caught you…"

"_Oh,_ _that_." She smiled sheepishly. Just when she thought that she had already forgotten about the incident, it came back to harshly slap her again with memories, causing her heart to skip a beat. But in the end, she came back to her senses and found herself squeezing Mirajane's hand back. "It's okay. It's no problem, really."

"Please don't say that," Freed interposed steadfastly, "We had been rather careless…"

"Plus, you are Gray and Juvia's friend," Mirajane added with an earnest tone, "That makes you our nakama as well. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you."

Hearing those words made Meredy feel even more contented, despite all the events that happened to her recently. "It's okay. I forgive you. You didn't know my identity back then, so I'm sure you didn't mean it." When the two looked up to her in surprise, she gave them a smile. "Besides, right now, we have more serious matters to attend to."

Mirajane and Freed looked at each other. "Right, the dark guild," the latter uttered.

Meredy found herself looking at Freed and recalled something. "Wait, weren't you the one in charge of setting the barrier during the game?"

When Freed confirmed that it was him, she began relating how it felt similar to the ones that trapped Jellal.

"I added inscriptions of Dark Ecriture magic when I set up the Jutsu Shiki barriers so it would not be easily undone," he shared, "Perhaps it was the reason why you felt a 'dark' presence."

Meredy bit her lip. "I see."

He continued further. "It's safe to assume that whoever was responsible for creating that barrier you speak of was potent user of Dark Ecriture, or something similar to it." He stood up and patted off some dust from his coat. "I might have to consult with Levy regarding this. We'll look through some well-known Letter magic users and look for connections." He nodded his head politely. "Please excuse me."

As soon as Freed left, Erza told Meredy that she could stay at the guild house while waiting for Lyon. She complied, as she sat on one of the chairs and contemplated on the recent events. _"Portico Dusk…"_

All of them sat in silence, waiting for news to arrive.

Soon, Lyon was finally at the entrance of the building, together with Jura. The Lamia Scale mages approached the gathering.

"Sorry I took too long, they asked me a bunch of questions over and over again," Lyon admitted, scratching the back of his neck, "However, we did manage to get more information on the dark guild."

Jura nodded. "The coordinates from the Atmospheric and Geophysical Division also arrived, so I discussed it with the Magic Council. It turns out, another dark mage also appeared when the beam hit Magnolia before, and was hiding around the town at first. The council managed to find him, so they are currently interrogating the two captured 'guardians of Behemuth,' as they refer to themselves. This situation is quite unsettling actually, because a number of beams also struck other parts of Fiore, meaning there's a high probability that dark mages are running amok other towns. "

Makarov agreed. "Unsettling, indeed."

"Nevertheless, the council assured us that they have things under control since they already dispatched armies in each town. I was also brought here to tell you something, Makarov-dono," Jura faced his fellow wizard saint. "The Magic Council would like to speak with all of the masters of the guilds in each town affected."

Makarov gritted his teeth in annoyance. "What do they want to speak about? If it's about not interfering with their business with dark guilds again, they should just forget about it. I've already decided that it's time for us to be involved."

Jura's lips curved upwards. "That's exactly what they want to hear. Given the extent of the threat looming throughout Fiore, they decided that it would be better to ally with the legal guilds against Portico Dusk."

Surprised mumbles were heard from the Fairy Tail members present, as well as Meredy. Makarov himself was speechless at first. "That's great news, then!" the old master beamed, "Finally, we agreed about something."

When Jura proceeded to speak more about the council to Makarov in private, Gray took it as the cue to approach Meredy, who was conversing with Lyon about what occurred during the interrogation.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," the younger ice mage said, "But Meredy, about that something I wanted to tell you earlier…"

Meredy gave him a curious look. "What is it?"

"Should I leave?" Lyon inquired, standing up.

It took Gray a moment to respond. "No, I think you should probably hear about this too."

Lyon nodded and sat back again.

"This is probably superficial compared to the recent events happening, but it really bothers me…"

Lyon clicked his tongue in irritation. "Stop beating around the bush, Gray. Spill it out already."

"Fine." Gray placed his hands inside the pockets of his jeans and looked at the ground. "You took on the appearance of an old lady earlier. Did you happen to have someone in mind when you transformed into her?"

Meredy lowered her eyes. It was true; she used transformation magic to mimic the appearance of the old lady who gave them Ultear's letter. "What if I did?"

Lyon noted how Gray tightly flexed his fingers into a fist.

"When did you see her?" Gray asked demandingly, still not looking directly at her.

"Why are you being so persistent about this?" Meredy immediately spat back, with a hint of spite in her voice. It was the first time Lyon saw her like this.

Gray slowly lifted his head, and voiced the following words more gently. "Because I saw her too, when we were heading home after the Grand Magic Games."

Meredy raised her head too, though her eyes appeared unreadable. Her voice was notably softer. "What are you trying to tell me?"

Lyon's eyes widened when he heard Gray's next words.

"I'm trying to say that Ultear is probably alive."

* * *

**A/N:** And the chapter ends here. The story is now moving forward [dun dun dun!]. My apologies if I took too long to update! I've been pretty lost with how I would go on with the plot of this story, so before writing this chapter, I attempted to organize my thoughts and plans first for the next coming chapters until the epilogue (I just realized how really helpful it is to create summaries for each chapters first before writing the actual content, rather than writing the details "on-the-spot," which was what I did for the first chapters ;;). BTW, do any of you guys have tumblr accounts? I'd really love to follow you there! ;w;

Thank you for reading!


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